Integrated Modeling and Experiments for Strength in Tantalum: A Tri-lab Effort

Recent strength investigations showcase the growing role of computational modeling in both the design and the interpretation of high-rate dynamic response experiments in metals. Focused simulations at length scales from continuum to atomistic are expanding our understanding of high-rate deformation and challenging our simple definitions of material strength.

An overview of three current experimental platforms at the national labs for measuring strength in tantalum at high-pressures and high-rates will be presented and the mechanisms and models associated with simulating deformation in these extreme regimes will be discussed.

Our ongoing tri-lab effort in tantalum strength combines measurements on LANL’s gas guns, Sandia’s Z machine, and LLNL’s NIF/Omega platforms over a wide range of strain rates and peak pressures. Recent successes in integrating dislocations, grain boundaries and microstructure into modeling plasticity and strength at continuum, mesoscale, and atomistic scales will be summarized, with a focus on challenges and multiscale modeling directions.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-mission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.