SOME APPLICATIONS OF LASER-INDUCED SHOCKS ON THE DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF MATERIALS

High-power pulsed lasers are used widely nowadays as shock generators. They settle as a complementary technique to the conventional shock ge nerators by the high peak pressure and short duration shocks they deli ver. They are used to investigate the feasibility of new industrial pr ocesses and to get information on the behavior of matter ill specific conditions of extremely high strain rate. In this paper, some studies about typical applications of laser shocks are presented: surface dens ification of porous materials, spallation in ductile and brittle mater ials, alpha-epsilon phase change in iron, and an estimate of the relax ation time for this transition. Laser shock experiments provide additi onal data on the dynamic behavior of materials at the nanosecond time scale.