The shock Hugoniot of the intermetallic alloy Ti-46.5Al-2Nb-2Cr

Plate impact experiments were conducted on a gamma-titanium aluminide (TiAl ) based ordered intermetallic alloy. Stress measurements were recorded usin g manganin stress gauges supported on the back of TiAl targets using polyme thylmethacrylate windows. The Hugoniot in stress-particle velocity space fo r this TiAl alloy was deduced using impedance matching techniques. The resu lts in this study are compared to the known Hugoniot data of the common alp ha-beta engineering Ti-based alloy Ti-6Al-4V. The results of the current st udy on the intermetallic alloy TiAl support that TiAl possesses a significa ntly higher stress for a given particle velocity than the two-phase Ti-6Al- 4V alloy. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)04918-5].