Meso–Macro Energy Exchange in Shock-Wave Processes and Dynamic Strength of AB2 Steel

Impact tests of low-alloy martensitic-bainitic steel AB2 showed that the scale of dynamic deformation and the fracture mechanism change in a threshold manner. The change in the mechanism and scale of fracture is triggered by the resonant excitation of large-scale structural elements of the material (grain conglomerates) due to plastic flow oscillations. In this case, the grain-boundary mechanism of dynamic fracture is replaced by a transcrystalline one. Beyond the strain rate threshold, mesoscopic elementary carriers of dynamic deformation are divided into two groups: low-velocity and high-velocity. Accordingly, the velocity distribution of mesoparticles shows two humps. The velocity spread of mesoparticles sharply increases under these conditions, while the mass velocity defect (change in the shock wave amplitude) becomes negative. The latter fact indicates the local acceleration of mesoparticles in discrete regions of the target (the so-called shooting of mesoparticles in the shock wave direction). Transcrystalline cracks are randomly distributed throughout the specimen and have a random orientation.