Shock Wave Deformation in Polymeric Systems

Personnel: John Paul Mikhail

The purpose of this project is to examine materials capable of withstanding and protecting against the extreme deformation caused by shock waves, which can permanently damage most traditional materials. Molecular dynamics and other techniques are used to understand high stress and strain-rate response of nanostructured, polymeric systems. The compositional dependence of these systems on their deformation mechanisms is studied to aid in the design of the next generation of materials with superior shock mitigation properties.