FRAGMENT MASS AND BREAK POINT-DISTRIBUTIONS IN DYNAMIC FRAGMENTATION OF A ROD

The dynamic fragmentation of a rod is investigated by conducting exper iments and a computer simulation. A ''lateral impact experiment'' in w hich a hypervelocity nylon projectile collides at the top of the plast er rods is carried out, The fragment mass distribution and the alignme nt of the fragments are investigated, The cumulative number distributi on of the fragment mass can be expressed by an exponential distributio n while the distribution of the break points is different from the ran dom one. Thus, the fragmentation in the lateral impact experiments can not be described by Poisson statistics, The results of a simple one-di mensional model for elastic fracture resemble those observed in latera l impact experiments.