Shock response of micro-grained diamond-SiC composite

Abstract

Micro-grained diamond-SiC composites have been prepared by sintering a mixture of micro-grained diamond and Si powder using high-temperature and high-pressure method at 1100–1500 °C, and 5.5 GPa. Plate impact experiments in reverse—and forward—impact geometry were used to investigate the shock response of the micro-grained diamond-SiC composites within a shock pressure range from 22 to 195 GPa. The obtained plot of shock velocity (D) vs particle velocity (u) indicated that the double elastic wave responses are observed in the pressure range of 22–170 GPa, which is consistent with the previously reported diamond-SiC composites containing a small amount of tungsten carbide (WC) under shock compression up to ∼110 GPa [Li et al., J. Appl. Phys. 128, 245901 (2020)]. The results of shock experiments demonstrate that the Hugoniot elastic limit of micro grained diamond in SiC matrix is as high as 170 GPa, which is nearly twice as high as that of single crystal diamond.