Shock response of the elastomer, polychloroprene

The high-strain rate response of polymers is becoming increasingly importan t to understand, given their widespread use in many industries. In particul ar, they are used as bonding agents in the production of materials such as polymer bonded explosives. In this case, their properties become especially important to understand since the safety of the energetic composition depe nds upon their response. There are three broad classes of polymer microstru cture; elastomers, thermoplastics, and thermosets. The shock response of on e of the first of these three classes is investigated in this work. Work is described in which the Hugoniot of the material is investigated using plat e impact experiments, measuring the stress at varying positions to determin e the shock and the stress-particle velocity state. (C) 2001 American Insti tute of Physics.