Fragmentation in biaxial tension

We have carried out an experiment that places a ductile stainless steel in a state of biaxial tension at a high rate of strain. The loading of the ductile metal spherical cap is performed by the detonation of a high-explosive layer with a conforming geometry to expand the metal radially outwards. Simulations of the loading and expansion of the metal predict strain rates that compare well with experimental observations. A high percentage of the high explosives loaded material was recovered through a soft capture process, and characterization of the recovered fragments provided high- quality data, including uniform strain prior to failure and fragment size. These data were used with a modified fragmentation model to determine a fragmentation energy. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.