A flyer-impact technique for measuring viscosity of metal under shock compression.

A flyer-impact technique, different from the explosive method of [Sakharov et al., Sov. Phys. Dokl. 9, 1091 (1965)], is developed to investigate the viscosity of shocked metals. The shock wave with a front of sinusoidal perturbation is induced by the sinusoidal profile of the impact surface of the sample by use of two-stage light-gas gun. The oscillatory damping process of the perturbation amplitude is monitored by electric pins. Two damping curves (perturbation amplitude relative to its initial value versus propagated distance relative to the wavelength of sinusoidal perturbation) of aluminum are determined at 78 and 101 GPa. The effective shear viscosity coefficients are deduced to be about 1300 and 800 Pa s based on the Miller and Ahrens analytic solution for viscous fluid.