Study of spallation by sub-picosecond laser driven shocks in metals

Spallation induced by a laser driven shock has been studied for two decades on time scales of nanosecond order. The evolution of laser technologies now provides access to sources whose pulse duration is under the picosecond, corresponding to characteristic times of numerous microscopic phenomena. In this ultra-short irradiation regime, spallation experiments have been performed with time-resolved measurements of the free surface. In this solicitation type, damage occurs at small scale, leading to micrometric spalls. The VISAR measurements have been complemented with post-test observations and microtomography and compared with numerical simulations to check the models consistency of the laser-matter interaction, shock wave propagation and the dynamic damage criteria ability to reproduce spallation at this ultra-short time scale, inducing strong tensile stress states at very high strain rates.