The use of laterally mounted stress gauges in the measurement of strength during shock loading

The shear strength of materials under shock-loading conditions has long been recognized as being of the utmost importance, as this can be related to deformation mechanisms and ballistic performance. As such, a number of experimental techniques have been developed to study this component of shock loading, and in this paper, we concentrate on the embedded lateral stress gauge. We acknowledge that as the requirements of the target assembly necessitate that the target be sectioned, the gauge glued in place, and the target reassembled, it is possible that the gauge response is dominated by its local environment. As a consequence, we have, therefore, asked three questions—can the gauge be placed in a known stress condition and measure the correct lateral stress and shear strengths; do the results from the lateral stress gauge agree with other non-invasive techniques; and finally, if we do trust the results from lateral gauges, can they be placed in context with other known shock-induced materials responses. In all three cases, we believe that the answer is yes, and we present evidence for all three situations.