Decay of the elastic precursor in a filled glass

Plate-impact experiments have been performed upon a lead-filled glass to un derstand its shock response. Stress measurements have been made using manga nin stress gauges in both longitudinal and lateral orientations. It has bee n observed that there is a pronounced decay in Hugoniot elastic limit with distance into the target. In the experiments conducted, a steady value for the precursor amplitude has not been reached. Failure waves were seen to sw eep the entire thickness of the glass specimens until stopped by release wa ves from the rear of the target. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.