Symmetrical Taylor impact of glass bars

Brar and Bless pioneered the use of plate impact upon bars as a technique for investigating the 1D stress loading of glass but limited their studies to relatively modest stresses. We wish to extend this technique by applying VISAR and embedded stress gauge measurements to a symmetrical version of the test in which two rods impact one upon the other. Previous work in the laboratory has characterised the glass types (soda-lime and borosilicate). These experiments identify the failure mechanisms from high-speed photography and the stress and particle velocity histories are interpreted in the light of these results. The differences in response of the glasses and the relation of the fracture to the failure wave in uniaxial strain are discussed