Karla Wagner¹, Andrew Boddorff¹, Greg Kennedy¹, Min Zhou¹, Naresh N. Thadhani¹; ¹Georgia Institute of Technology

X-ray phase contrast imaging (X-PCI) available at the Dynamic Compression Sector at the Advanced Photon Source is used to provide time- and spatially-resolved shock compression response of high-solids loaded polymer composite fabricated by direct-write Additive Manufacturing (AM), to determine the effects of process-inherent heterogeneities on their dynamic mechanical behavior. Dynamic compression involves complex processes due to shock wave interaction with dissimilar constituents and voids. Understanding these processes requires probing with nano-to-microsecond time and micro- to meso-scale spatial resolution, which is not possible via traditional methods that only provide volume averaged measurements of stress/strain states. In this talk we will present our observations of the shock compression response of AM-fabricated high solids filled polymer composites using X-PCI to examine the deformation and fracture processes and evaluate the equation of state of this complex material. Funding for this research is provided by DTRA Grant No. HDTRA1-18-1-0004.