The use of digital speckle radiography to study the ballistic deformation of a polymer bonded sugar (an explosive simulant)

This paper reports an initial study into the benefits of determining two-dimensional flow fields for low velocity impact on a small-scale model of explosive reactive armour (ERA) using digital speckle radiography (DSR). The model system consisted of a polymer-bonded sugar (PBS) (otherwise known as a sugar mock) confined between two mild steel plates. The DSR technique relies upon creating a layer within the specimen that is seeded with lead particles. So although radiography itself is mechanically non-invasive, the lead layer needed may change the mechanical properties of the material. DSR revealed where regions of intense shear occurred in normal impact. These regions are likely to be where a polymer-bonded explosive (PBX) would initiate.