DNA/SNLA commonality program

The purpose of the Commonality program, initiated by DNA in 1978, was to evaluate e-beam material testing procedures and techniques by comparing material stress and spall data from various US and UK e-beam facilities and experimenters. As part of this joint DNA/SNL/UK Commonality effort, Sandia and Ktech used four different electron-beam machines to investigate various aspects of e-beam energy deposition in three materials. The deposition duration and the deposition profiles were varied, and the resulting stresses were measured. The materials studied were: (1) a low-Z material (A1), (2) a high-Z material (Ta), and (3) a typical porous material, a cermet. Aluminium and tantalum were irradiated using the DNA Blackjack 3 accelerator (60 ns pulse width), the DNA Blackjack 3' accelerator (30 ns pulse width), and the SNLA REHYD accelerator (100 ns pulse width). Propagating stresses were measured using x-cut quartz gauges, carbon gauges, and laser interferometry techniques. Data to determine the influence of deposition duration were obtained over a wide range of energy loadings. The cermet material was studied using the SNLA REHYD and HERMES II accelerators. The e-beam from REHYD generated propagating stresses which were monitored with quartz gauges as a function of sample thickness and energy loadings. The HERMES II accelerator was used to uniformly heat the cermet to determine the Grueneisen parameter and identify the incipient spall condition. Results of these experiments are presented