Analysis of explosive damage in metals using orientation imaging microscopy

The goal of this project was to determine whether quantitative information concerning the size and nature of an explosive blast could be determined using Orientation Imaging Microscopy (OIM) to analyze the texture of blast-affected metal. Selected 1018 steel and 2024 aluminum samples were subjected to various explosive blasts chosen to simulate a wide range of possible pressure waves. The explosives used were PBX 9404, Comp-C4, Gelmax, and Bullseye. The explosive tests were carried out at Sandia National Laboratory, and the OIM analysis was conducted at Ames Laboratory. It was discovered that while suitable patterns could be obtained from the steel samples, the oxide layer present on the surface of the aluminum samples prevented these samples from being studied. The results of the OIM studies on the steel samples indicate that damage can be tracked using OIM imaging and that Comp-C4 seems to produce patterns significantly different than the other explosives.