Description:DISCLAIMER
[1] Portions of this patent document may contain material that may be subject to copyright OR Trademark protection. The owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights and trademarks whatsoever. All copyrights and trademarks are owned by Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

TECHNICAL FIELD
[2] This disclosure relates generally to generating high load and high force planar shock waves in a laboratory setup and study impact analysis of these chock waves on different materials under different conditions.

BACKGROUND
[3] Shock interaction on materials is a critical study in several practical situations, such as metal power production in closed coupled atomizers, liquid fuel injection in scramjet engines, rain droplets impacting ballistic missiles, etc., where the gas flow conditions in such applications are practically not constant. Prior art explores such shock interaction on materials using conventional shock tube systems that provide uniform flow characteristics. The conventional shock tube requires a significantly large floor length of the order of at least a few 10 meters ( m), which becomes a restriction to install such a setup in a laboratory environment. Further, the conventional shock tubes can only be operated in step changes of shock Mach numbers as the bursting of a mechanical diaphragm is required to operate such systems. The obtained shock Mach numbers are controlled by the diaphragm’s mechanical properties, which can only be varied in steps depending on the material choice. Further, shock wave interaction studies under liquid environments cannot be conducted in such shock tubes.
[4] Several blast wave systems have been developed in the past with applications focused on the emulation of in-air or underwater explosions, and structural responses of materials to blast wave interaction and their mitigation strategies have been attempted to be studied. These systems primarily generate cylindrical or spherical blast wave geometries and operate under limited experimental conditions. A further disadvantage of the existing systems is that they cannot operate in different test conditions with precise control and high repeatability. It is an object of the present disclosure to address some or all these limitations with existing conventional shock tube and blast wave-based systems.

SUMMARY
[5] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a system and a method for testing properties of materials based on the impact of high load and/or high force shock waves on the materials, wherein a conducting material either in the form of a wire or thin strip is coupled between two electrodes of a high voltage device in a chamber, and an elongated tube is attached to the chamber, wherein the elongated tube is configured to transform a cylindrical blast wave produced when a high voltage is applied to the electrodes into a planar shock wave, which is then exposed or impacted on the materials kept in the path of the planar shock wave. Other embodiments are also disclosed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[6] For a better understanding of the nature and desired objects of the present disclosure, reference is made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures wherein like reference character/numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views. Objects, features, and advantages of embodiments disclosed herein may be better understood by referring to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The drawings are not meant to limit the scope of the claims included herewith. For clarity, not every element may be labelled in every Figure. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating embodiments, principles, and concepts. Thus, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
[7] Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the system in which a high voltage electric pulse is provided to the electrodes to produce a blast wave and propagate the blast wave in an elongated tube converting the blast wave to a planar shock wave in accordance with the present disclosure.
[8] Figure 2A illustrates an exemplary a system in which a high voltage electric pulse is provided to the electrodes to produce a blast wave and propagate the blast wave in an elongated tube converting the blast wave to a planar shock wave and a material placed in the path of the shock wave for performing impact testing of the material in accordance with the present disclosure.
[9] Figure 2B illustrates an exemplary a system in which a high voltage electric pulse is provided to the electrodes to produce a blast wave and propagate the blast wave in an elongated tube converting the blast wave to a planar shock wave and investigate secondary atomization to test impact on a material in accordance with the present disclosure.
[10] Figure 3A illustrates an exemplary a system in which a high voltage electric pulse is provided to the electrodes to produce a blast wave and propagate the blast wave in an elongated tube converting the blast wave to a planar shock wave and investigate test impact on a material in a chosen environment, wherein the system is sealed and filled with the chosen environment inaccordance with the present disclosure.
[11] Figure 3B illustrates an exemplary a system in which a high voltage electric pulse is provided to the electrodes to produce a blast wave and propagate the blast wave in an elongated tube converting the blast wave to a planar shock wave and investigate test impact on a material in a fluid medium such as water for testing the material in underwater conditions, wherein the system is sealed and filled with the fluid medium in inaccordance with the present disclosure.
[12] Figure 4A illustrates an exemplary variation of shock Mach number (M_s) with charging voltage under different conditions in accordance with the present disclosure.
[13] Figure 4B illustrates an exemplary variation illustrates variation of the Weber number against the shock Mach number in accordance with the present disclosure.
[14] Figure 5 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a method for performing the impact testing of material using the exemplary system in accordance with the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[15] Hereinafter, various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where it should be understood that all these drawings and descriptions are only presented as exemplary embodiments. It is to be noted that based on the subsequent description, several alternative embodiments may be conceived that may have a structure similar to that disclosed herein and/or formed by a method as disclosed herein, and all such alternative embodiments may be used without departing from the principle of the disclosure as claimed herein, and hence such alternative embodiments are construed to fall within the scope of the present disclosure.
[16] All references in the specification made to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “a preferred embodiment” etc., indicate that the embodiment described herein may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases may not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. It should also be understood that various terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing a particular embodiment or specific embodiments only and the use of such terminology is not intended to be limiting the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” may also include the plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “has” and “including” used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence of one or more other features, elements, components and/or a combination thereof. For example, the term “multiple” used here indicates “two or more;” the term “and/or” used here may comprise any or all combinations of one or more of the items listed in parallel. Definitions of other terms will be specifically provided in the following description. Furthermore, in the following description, some functions, or structures well-known to those skilled in the art will be omitted in order not to obscure embodiments of the disclosure in the unnecessary details.
[17] It may be appreciated that these exemplary embodiments are provided only to enable those skilled in the art to better understand and then further implement the present disclosure, not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any manner. Besides, in the drawings, for the purpose of illustration, optional steps, modules, and units may be illustrated in dotted-line blocks.
[18] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a system and a method for testing properties of materials based on the impact of high load and/or high force shock waves on the materials, wherein a conducting material either in the form of a wire or thin strip is coupled between two electrodes of a high voltage device in a chamber, the chamber forming an enclosure around the electrodes that are connected to a high voltage device such that the chamber end is cover by the base plate and the base plate has an opening through which electrodes are flushed up to base plate plane and conducting material is mounted on the electrode ends in the plane of the base plate. The elongated tube is a flush mounted to a base plate on which the explosion happens. The elongated tube connected to the base plate or the chamber is configured to transform a cylindrical blast wave produced when a high voltage is applied to the electrodes into a planar shock wave, which is then exposed or impacted to the materials kept in the path of the planar shock wave. Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to developing a portable wire-blast based shock tube that can be operated in different test conditions with precise control and high repeatability, by generating planar blast/shock wave and is in some embodiments suitable for investigating the secondary atomization of any test liquid in different ambient conditions.
[19] In an exemplary embodiment, the present disclosure relates to a system that may be used for testing materials, and specifically the impact properties using planar shock wave (also may be referred to as planar blast wave) on the materials under a high load and/or high force in a short period of time in the order of milliseconds or microseconds. In an exemplary embodiment, a conducting material is coupled between two electrodes inside an electrode chamber, and the electrodes are coupled to a high-voltage supply device to produce a high-voltage electric pulse. In an exemplary embodiment, a high voltage supply device is coupled to the two electrodes is configured to provide high voltage electric pulses to the electrodes when switched to an ON state. In an exemplary embodiment, the high voltage electric pulse that is provided to the electrodes creates a short circuit and the conducting material connecting the electrodes, in the form of a thin wire or the thin strip, generates an explosion resulting in a high-intensity blast wave, which may be cylindrical or spherical or of any other form. The blast waves generated from the explosion are propagated from the site of the explosion in the explosion chamber into an elongated tube. In an exemplary embodiment, the conducting material connecting the two electrodes may be a thin wire or a thin strip in the range of 10-50 SWG (Standard Wire Gauge).
[20] In an exemplary embodiment, the chamber is coupled to a base plate on which the elongated tube is connected and the explosion occurs on the base plate generating the blast wave. The blast wave generated from the explosion of the wire due to the short circuit propagates into the elongated tube. As the blast wave is propagated into the elongated tube, thereby focusing the blast wave along the elongated tube and the blast wave transforms into a planar shock wave in the elongated tube. In an exemplary embodiment, the elongated tube may have a length of about 10 inches to 18 inches and may have a width of about 5 mm to 50 mm. In an exemplary embodiment, the elongated tube is rectangular in shape or may be of any other shape having the property to propagate the blast wave from the explosion site into the elongated duct, focusing the blast wave and transforming the blast wave into a planar shock wave. It should also be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that the length of the elongated tube may vary and such variation fall within the scope of the present disclosure.
[21] In an exemplary embodiment, a material that needs to be tested with a high impact may be placed along the elongated tube, which is placed along the path of the planar shock wave, and collided/impacted with the planar shock wave. In an exemplary embodiment, the impact of the planar shock wave on the material provides critical data related to the material when exposed to high-impact collision over a short period of time, for example a few milliseconds or a few microseconds. In an exemplary embodiment, the material to be tested may be a solid or a fluid or a gel or a gas or a droplet/jet of a material or a substrate or a particle of a material, suitably provided or placed in the path of the planar shock wave in the elongated duct.
[22] In an exemplary embodiment, the elongated tube may be completely sealed and filled with an inter gas or a fluid or a molten solid or any other suitable material under which conditions the impacting testing may be performed. In a further exemplary embodiment, the elongated tube and the electrode chamber may be completely sealed forming a sealed chamber and filled with an inert gas or a fluid or a gel or a molten solid. In an exemplary embodiment, the material to be tested may be placed inside the sealed chamber and impact testing of the material may be performed in the fluid or the inert gas or the molten solid environment, when the planar shock wave collides with the material to be tested. In an exemplary embodiment, the sealed chamber may be filled with water and a material placed inside the sealed chamber to determine the material properties with respect to impact in water. In an exemplary embodiment, the pressure inside the sealed chamber may be varied to mimic underwater conditions to perform testing of the material for conditions that are related to those underwater. In an exemplary embodiment, the absolute pressure inside the sealed chamber may be maintained in the range of 0.05 mbar to about 5 bar.
[23] In an exemplary embodiment a method of conducting an impact test on a material under different conditions is disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, the method may include creating a blast wave, such as a cylindrical blast wave or a spherical blast wave. In an exemplary embodiment the blast wave is generated by connecting a conducting material between two electrodes, and the two electrodes are connected to a high-voltage supply device. In an exemplary embodiment, by switching ON the high voltage device, there is a short-circuit created in the circuit because of the high voltage electric pulse there is a high impact blast, which generates a blast wave at the time of explosion.
[24] In an exemplary embodiment, the method may include converting the blast wave generated due to the explosion into a planar shock wave. In an exemplary embodiment, the blast wave may be propagated into an elongated tube, wherein the blast wave is focused into the elongated tube thereby converting the blast wave to a planar shock wave. In an exemplary embodiment, the method further includes interfacing or exposing a material with the planar shock wave by placing the material in the path of the planar shock wave and colliding the material with a high load and/or high force in a short time period to determine impact properties associated with the material.
[25] In an exemplary embodiment, the material may be placed in the path of the elongated tube through which the planar shock wave traverses. In an exemplary embodiment the material may be a solid or a fluid or a gel or a gas or a droplet/jet of a material or a substrate or a particle of a material. In an exemplary embodiment, the elongated tube may be completely sealed forming a sealed enclosure and the sealed enclosed may be filled with an inert gas or a fluid or molten solid. The material may be placed inside the sealed chamber and impact testing of the material may be performed in the fluid or the inert gas or the molten solid environment under variable pressure conditions with the planar shock wave traversing through the environment and colliding with the material in the chosen environment. In a further embodiment, the planar shock wave colliding with the material may provide data related to the structural impact testing of the material at a high load and/or high force over a short period of time, wherein the impact of the planar shock wave on the material may be in the order of a few milliseconds or a few microseconds. In an exemplary embodiment, the collision of the planar shock wave on the material may result in providing data related to the high-impact properties of the material, which can then be used to determine structure-related information of the material at certain conditions, which for example may include the study of the surface of the material to such high impact from planar shock waves under different conditions like air, water, fluids etc.
[26] In an exemplary embodiment, the system developed in accordance with the present disclosure for testing materials with an impact from a high load and/or high force planar shock wave within a short span of time is a miniature-size test facility with the ability to control the axis of shock wave propagation. In an exemplary embodiment, the entire system may be placed along a horizontal axis (for example the x-axis) in a two-dimensional plane and the shock wave may be propagated along the horizontal direction. In another exemplary embodiment, because of the miniature size of the system as compared to the normally available system, the system may be aligned vertically along the y-axis in the two-dimensional plane and the shock wave may be propagated along the vertical direction. In yet a further exemplary embodiment, the system may be placed at an angle, for example 45 degrees between the horizontal axis (x-axis) and the vertical axis (y-axis) and the shock wave may be propagated at an angle. For the sake of simplicity, only a 2D plane is considered, and it should be obvious to a person of ordinary skill that a 3D plane may be considered and the system may be placed at any angle (geometry) along the 3D plane and the shock wave may be transited along that plane. In an exemplary embodiment. The system of the present disclosure advantageously allows for precise control of shock strengths (i.e., the strength or intensity of the shock wave required to impact the material, and also accommodates a wide range of shock Mach numbers (M_s is in a range between 1 to 2), and also further the system allows for high repeatability in the test runs.
[27] Reference is made to Figure 1, which illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the system 100 in accordance with the present disclosure. The system 100 includes a chamber 110, which may also be referred to as electrode chamber 110. The chamber 110 may be made of either an organic or an inorganic non-conducting material. In an exemplary embodiment the electrode chamber may be made of Perspex or polycarbonate or any other non-conducting material. The chamber 110 hosts a first electrode 120 and a second electrode 130, wherein the first electrode 120 and the second electrode are separated by a distance, but are proximate to each other. The first electrode 120 and the second electrode 130 are made of a conducting material, having a high melting point, such that they do not melt on the production of a high voltage electric pulse to the electrodes 120, 130. In an exemplary case sufficiently thick metallic rods, such as steel rods, may be used as electrodes 120, 130. The first electrode 120 and the second electrode 130 are connected to the terminals of a high-voltage device 140, that is configured to supply a high-voltage electric pulse. The first electrode 120 and the second electrode 130 is connected with a conducting material 115, which may be in the form of a thin wire or a thin strip. In a preferred exemplary embodiment, the conducting material 115 may be flush mounted to a base plate 112 which from the part of the chamber 110 to which the elongated tube 150 may be attached. The conducting material 115 may be a metal or a non-metal with a high conductivity and has a thickness dimension in the range of about 10 SWG to about 60 SWG (Standard Wire Gauge, which is a measure of the thickness of a wire). In an exemplary case, copper wire with about 30-35 SWG may be used.
[28] In an exemplary embodiment, the chamber 110 or the base plate 112 of the chamber may be coupled to an elongated tube 150. The elongated tube 150 may be made of an organic or an inorganic material. In an exemplary case Perspex or polycarbonate or any other material may be used to make the elongated tube. In an exemplary case the shape of the elongated tube 150 was made to be rectangular in shape, but it should be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that any other shape would also be suitable as for the elongated tube, such as a square shape, a cylindrical shape, a hexagonal shape etc., such that the elongated tube is able to propagate the blast wave and transform the blast wave into a planar shock wave. In an exemplary embodiment, the elongated tube 150 may be made of any non-conducting organic material or any inorganic material. In an exemplary case the elongated tube may be made of Perspex.
[29] When the high voltage device 140 is switched ON, the high voltage device 140 is configured to supply a high voltage electric pulse to the first electrode 120 and the second electrode 130. The high voltage electric pulse passing via the conducting material 115 in the form of a thin wire or strip, creates a short-circuit system, creating an explosion and a blast wave is generated due to the explosion on the base plate 112 (hereinafter reference to explosion in the chamber refers to the explosion on the base plate). In an exemplary case the blast wave may be a cylindrical wave or a spherical wave. The blast wave generated is propagated along the elongated tube 150, wherein the blast wave is focused into the elongated tube 150 and the propagation and focusing of the blast wave into the elongated tube 150 transforms the blast wave into a planar shock wave that has a high intensity. Thus, system 100 may be used to generate a high-intensity planar shock wave in a laboratory setup, wherein the length of the elongated tube 150 is not more than 24 inches, thereby making it ideal for generating high-intensity planar shock waves in a miniature lab setup. However, it should be obvious to a person or ordinary skill in the art that variations of the elongated tube 150 may be possible in length and width and all such combinations will fall within the scope of the present disclosure. In an exemplary embodiment, it should be obvious that the base plate 112 may be part of the chamber 110 and reference to the chamber may also include reference to the base plate and explosion on the base plate 112 may also refer to an explosion in the chamber 110.
[30] Reference is made to Figure 2A, which illustrates the same setup as of Figure 1, wherein a first electrode 220 and a second electrode 230 are placed inside an electrode chamber 210. The first electrode 220 and the second electrode 230 are connected to a high voltage device 240, which is configured to provide a high voltage electric pulse to the electrodes 220, 230, when the high voltage device is switched ON. The first electrode 220 and the second electrode 230 are coupled with a conducting material 215, which may be a thin wire or a thin strip, which is preferably of an organic material or an inorganic material and being a good conductor. The electrode chamber 210 is coupled to an elongated tube 250 through a base plate 212, and the explosion is created on the base plate 212.
[31] The high-voltage device is switched ON and a high-voltage electric pulse is provided to the electrodes 220, 230, which completes the circuit and generates an explosion by creating a short-circuit. The high-intensity explosion creates blast waves in the explosion chamber 210, which is propagated along the elongated tube 250. During the propagation of the blast wave in the elongated tube 250, the blast wave, which is either cylindrical or spherical, is focused in the elongated tube 250 transforming the blast wave into a high-intensity planar shock wave. A material 260 whose properties, such as structural properties, needs to be determined under high impact load and/or high impact force is placed along the line of the elongated tube 250 in air, and the high-intensity planar shock wave will collide against the material kept in the path of the planar shock wave and data related to the impact of the planar shock wave at high impact collisions at a short duration of time may be obtained and analyzed, which may be related to the structural properties of the material under the high impact load and/or force of the planar shock wave at a very short duration of time, which may be of the order of milliseconds or microseconds.
[32] Reference is made to Figure 2B, which illustrates the same setup as of Figure 1, wherein a first electrode 220 and a second electrode 230 are placed inside an electrode chamber 210. The first electrode 220 and the second electrode 230 are connected to a high voltage device 240, which is configured to provide a high voltage electric pulse to the electrodes 120, 130 when the high voltage device is switched ON. The first electrode 220 and the second electrode 330 are coupled with a conducting material 215, which may be a thin wire or a thin strip, which is preferably of an organic material or an inorganic material and being a good conductor. The electrode chamber 210 is coupled to an elongated tube 250. The explosion is created on the base plate 212 and the blast wave is propagated into the elongated tube.
[33] The high-voltage device is switched ON and a high-voltage electric pulse is provided to the electrodes 220, 230, which completes the circuit and generates an explosion by creating a short-circuit. The high-intensity explosion creates blast waves on the base plate 212, which is propagated along the elongated tube 250. During the propagation of the blast wave in the elongated tube 250, the blast wave is focused and transformed into a high-intensity planar shock wave within the elongated tube 250. The material 265 to be tested by the impact of the planar shock wave may be injected via a needle 270, wherein the material 265 is introduced in the form of a droplet in the path of the planar shock wave. In an exemplary embodiment, the material 265 may be sprayed in the form of multiple droplets such as a spray of droplets using spray atomizers instead of a needle (not shown in the Figure). Various other combinations should be possible that are obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art, and these fall within the scope of the present disclosure. The material 265 whose properties needs to be determined under high impact load and/or high impact force is introduced along the path of the planar shock wave being propagated in the line of the elongated tube in air (shown in the vertical direction in this exemplary case, and it should be obvious that the same can be performed by keeping the system in the horizontal position and the droplet injected in the vertical direction), and the planar shock wave arriving at high intensity will collide against the droplet falling (introduced) in the path of the planar shock wave and data related to the impact of the planar shock wave at high impact collisions at a short duration of time may be obtained and analyzed, which may be provide information on the structural properties of the material under the high impact load and/or force of the planar shock wave at a very short duration of time (in the order of milliseconds or microseconds).
[34] This system may be used to investigate secondary atomization to test impact on fluids in air, inert gas or any particular gas environment or in a fluid environment (as discussed below) at various absolute pressure conditions in the range of 0.01 mbar to 5 bar, rough vacuum conditions in the order of 0.01 mbar and underwater conditions or any liquid or fluid conditions. The system provides an ability to use variable size droplets in the range of 0.5 to 3 mm in free falling conditions and/or in levitated states.
[35] Reference is made to Figure 3A, which illustrates a system which is sealed completely, wherein a first electrode 320 and a second electrode 330 are placed inside an electrode chamber 310. The first electrode 320 and the second electrode 330 are connected to a high voltage device 240, which is configured to provide a high voltage electric pulse to the electrodes 320, 330, when the high voltage device is switched ON. The first electrode 320 and the second electrode 330 are coupled with a conducting material 315, which may be a thin wire or a thin strip, which is preferably of an organic material or an inorganic material and being a good conductor. The electrode chamber 310 is coupled to an elongated tube 350, through a base plate 312. The entire setup may be sealed in chamber 370 made of a non-conducting material or may be a conducting material filled with a non-conducting fluid, and the chamber may be filled with a gas or an inert gas or a fluid or any other material under which environment the impact testing need to be performed. The material 360 may be placed inside the chamber 370 such that the material is in the same environment as the planar shock wave being generated and propagated.
[36] The high-voltage device is switched ON and a high-voltage electric pulse is provided to the electrodes 320, 330, which completes the circuit and generates an explosion by creating a short-circuit. The high-intensity explosion creates blast waves on the base plate 312, which is propagated along the elongated tube 350. During the propagation of the blast wave in the elongated tube 350, the blast wave, which is either cylindrical or spherical, is focused in the elongated tube 350 transforming the blast wave into a high-intensity planar shock wave. A material 360 whose properties, such as structural properties, needs to be determined under high impact load and/or high impact force is placed along the line of the elongated tube 350 inside a sealed chamber 370, and the high-intensity planar shock wave will collide against the material kept in the path of the planar shock wave inside the sealed chamber 370 and data related to the impact of the planar shock wave at high impact collisions at a short duration of time may be obtained and analyzed, which may be related to the structural properties of the material under the high impact load and/or force of the planar shock wave at a very short duration of time, which may be of the order of milliseconds or microseconds.
[37] Reference is made to Figure 3B, which illustrates testing of an object in condition under water. A first electrode 320 and a second electrode 330 are placed inside an electrode chamber 310. The first electrode 320 and the second electrode 330 are connected to a high voltage device 340 (not shown in Figure), which is configured to provide a high voltage electric pulse to the electrodes 320, 330, when the high voltage device is switched ON. The first electrode 320 and the second electrode 330 are coupled with a conducting material 315, which may be a thin wire or a thin strip, which is preferably of an organic material or an inorganic material and being a good conductor. The electrode chamber 310 is coupled to an elongated tube 350 through a base plate 312, which may be filled with fluid 380 and maintained at a constant pressure. The entire setup may be sealed made of any material. In an exemplary conducting or non-conducting materials may be used for sealing the system and/or the end of the elongated tube. In an exemplary embodiment, the elongated tube 350 is filled with water and a material representing a ship is placed inside the elongated tube.
[38] The high-voltage device is switched ON and a high-voltage electric pulse is provided to the electrodes 320, 330, which completes the circuit and generates an explosion by creating a short-circuit. The high-intensity explosion creates blast waves on the base plate 312, which is propagated along the elongated tube 350 while passing through the fluid in the elongated tube 350. During the propagation of the blast wave in the elongated tube 350, the blast wave, which is either cylindrical or spherical, is focused in the elongated tube 350 transforming the blast wave into a high-intensity planar shock wave. A material 385 whose properties, such as structural properties, needs to be determined under high impact load and/or high impact force is placed inside the elongated tube 350 within the fluid medium 380, which is maintained at a desired pressure, and the high-intensity planar shock wave will collide against the material kept in the path of the planar shock wave inside the elongated tube and data related to the impact of the planar shock wave at high impact collisions at a short duration of time may be obtained and analyzed, which may be related to the structural properties of the material under the high impact load and/or force of the planar shock wave at a very short duration of time, which may be of the order of milliseconds or microseconds.
[39] In an exemplary embodiment, the exploding wire shock tube setup can also be used to produce underwater shock waves wherein the fluid is water and the pressure can be maintained as available at an underwater depth. In the exemplary case, underwater pulsed electrical discharges (similar to in-air discharges ) will produce underwater shock waves (SWs) that can stimulate the response of naval equipment in an efficient, inexpensive, and environmentally adequate way. In the exemplary case, for a wire that has erupted in a denser media (like water), the pulsed current quickly heats the load and flows through the metal wire, leading to various effects like powerful Ws, fast phase transitions, and non-ideal plasmas. Strong SWs (GPa level) can be found close to an exploding wire in the case of an Under Water Electrical Wire Explosion (UEWE). SWs with various properties can be created by altering the stored energy, the circuit’s parameters, or the wire load. This arrangement can be used to perform laboratory experiments on dynamic response of the structure to such underwater shock waves.
[40] With reference to both Figure 3A and Figure 3B, in an exemplary embodiment, as discussed above the system may operate in an inert atmosphere test facility. In an exemplary experimental case, the system includes a stainless steel chamber (sealed chamber) with internal dimensions of and an optical window measuring for performing measurements. In the exemplary case, the system may have a rated ultimate vacuum pressure of mbar and may be equipped with a droplet injection unit, vacuum pump inlet, and nitrogen supply. In the exemplary case, to measure vacuum pressure, a digital Pirani gauge may be used having a range from 999 to 0.001mbar, while a digital pressure sensor may measure a gauge pressure in the range of 0 to 10 bars. In the exemplary case to achieve inert conditions, the sealed chamber is first evacuated using a vacuum pump up to a pressure level of 0.018 mbar. Then, ultra-high pure nitrogen gas may be used to purge the chamber until the gauge pressure reaches about 0.35 bar. In the exemplary case, this process is repeated five times until the oxygen concentration inside the chamber is less than 1 ppm, and the nitrogen supply may be purified further using oxygen and moisture traps. In the exemplary case, after purging, the sealed chamber is pressurized to about 0.35 bar gauge pressure to ensure that any leakage, if present, occurs from inside to outside the chamber. In the exemplary case, the chamber may also be tested to ensure that it may sustain an absolute pressure of >1 mbar for over 24 hours without the vacuum pump. In the exemplary case, each trial takes about 20-30 minutes. In the exemplary embodiment, the procedures detailed here may be crucial to prevent the oxidation of liquid metals (materials) during the impact testing of the materials runs. Atomization of readily oxidizing liquid metals may be conducted using the system which provides highly inert testing conditions, and the same unit can be used to maintain any other gas as a shock tube fluid.
[41] Exemplary embodiment relates to material testing using a blast-based miniature shock tube setup that may be used to investigate secondary atomization processes under diverse experimental conditions. In an exemplary embodiment, the ability may be demonstrated in terms of precise control of shock strengths of the planar shock waves, a wide range of shock Mach numbers ( ), high repeatability for the test runs, maintaining different test environments, such as air, gas, inert gas, evacuated, fluids, molten solids, gels and underwater conditions, and a miniature test facility that can be performed within a small laboratory. In an exemplary embodiment, due to the inherent nature of decaying flow characteristics in blast waves, a blast wave based experimental setup as provided in the present disclosure provides a more realistic approach to emulate practical applications involving shock interactions on materials or objects.
[42] In an exemplary embodiment, a blast wave is created by exploding a copper wire, preferably in the range of 10 SWG to 50 SWG, using high voltage electrical pulse in the order of about 10 kV. The high energy deposition on the conducting material at a short time scale of the order of about 1 s results in conducting material exploding and creation of a cylindrical or spherical blast wave. In an exemplary embodiment, the rectangular cross-section of the elongated tube (duct) transforms the blast wave into a planer shock wave.
[43] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a miniature (length less than 1 m) wire-blast based shock tube facility which may be used for secondary atomization-based experiments. In an exemplary embodiment, the system in accordance with the present disclosure may be precisely controlled with high repeatability by changing the charging voltage of a capacitor that may be used to induce the high-voltage electric pulse in the high-voltage device to create the blast. It should be obvious of one of ordinary skill in the art that other techniques may be used to create the blast by supplying a high voltage electric pulse and all such techniques fall within the scope of the present disclosure. In an exemplary embodiment, the system may be used in gas, liquid of fluid shock tube, and also may have the ability to maintain variable pressure conditions between (0.05 mbar to 5 bar, absolute), rough vacuum conditions ( mbar). In an exemplary embodiment, the system may be used to investigate liquid metal atomization, which requires highly inert atmospheres using the system as illustrated in Figures 3A and 3B. In an exemplary embodiment. The operation at rough vacuum conditions may be suitable for studying re-entry space vehicles or meteorites. In an exemplary embodiment, using separate attachments allows the study of droplet atomization in the levitated and free-falling states, and investigate shock interaction with liquid jets.
[44] Reference is made to Figure 4A, which illustrates variation of shock Mach number ( ) with charging voltage under different conditions, wherein the charging viltage in an exemplary embodiment may be supplied by a capacitor. The x-axis represents charging voltage in kV and the y-axis represents the shock Mach number. In the plot, the square dots represent a plot of the charging voltage versus the shock Mach number for Galinstan-Air environment, the circular dots represent a plot of the charging voltage versus the shock Mach number for Galinstan-Nitrogen environment, and the triangular dots represent a plot of the charging voltage versus the shock Mach number for Water-Air environment. Figure 4A illustrates the variation of shock Mach number ( ) with different charging voltage of the capacitor, where the shock Mach number is computed using the formula , where shock speed and is the speed of sound in the medium ahead of the shock wave. For the Water-Air mixture it is observed that between a charging voltage of 4kV to about 8kV the shock Mach number varies between 1.2 to about 1.45, , and from a charging voltage of about 7kV to about 17 kV the Mach shock number varies between 1.35 to about.
[45] Reference is made to Figure 4B, which illustrates variation of the Weber number against the shock Mach number. The variation of Weber number ( ) with shock Mach number ( ) are performed wherein the Weber number is computed using the formula , where and are density and velocity of shock-induced gas flow, respecively, is the initial drop diameter and is the surface tension at liquid gas interface. Due to ability of the system in accordance with the present disclosure, the shock Mach numbers may be precisely controlled, similar Weber number values are maintained for comparing Galinstan-air, Galinstan-nitrogen and water-air systems. For the Water-Air environment, it is observed that between shock Mach number varies between 1.2 to about 1.45 and the corresponding Weber number is steep increase from 1000 about 6000, whereas for the Galinstan-Nitrogen and Galinstan-Air environment for the Mach shock number between 1.3 and 3, there is an exponential rise in the Weber number from about 100 to about 8000.
[46] Reference is made to Figure 5, which illustrates an exemplary method of producing high-intensity planar shock wave to collide with a material for obtaining material properties. In step 520, a blast wave is created. The blast wave is created by providing a conducting material connected between a first electrode and a second electrode with a high-voltage electric pulse inside an electrode chamber. The high-voltage electric pulse closes the circuit and a short-circuit is created, and the conducting material connected between the two electrodes explodes creating a blast wave. The blast wave is either cylindrical or spherical. In Step 520, the blast wave is converted into a high-intensity planar shock wave. The blast wave is propagated via the chamber into an elongated tube, wherein the blast wave is focused and transformed into a planar shock wave. In step 530, the planar shock wave is interacted with a material. The material whose structural properties at high energy are to be determined may be inserted into the path of the planar shock wave. The planar shock wave collides with the material. In step 540, the collision data is gathered and in step 550 the data is analyzed to provide information about the high load/high force impact of the planar shock wave on the material in a short period of time.
[47] In an embodiment, the elongated tube may be sealed at the open end or the electrode chamber and the elongated tube may be enclosed inside another chamber and sealed. The elongated chamber or the sealed chamber may be completely sealed and filled with an inert gas or a gas or a fluid or molten solid and maintained at a required pressure as mentioned previously. The material is impacted by a collision of the planar shock wave and impact properties of the material in the fluid or the gas or the inert gas or the molten solid environment is obtained which provides structural impact testing data associated with the material.
[48] Although the operations of the system and method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure are described in a specific order in the drawings, it does not require or imply that these operations have to be performed in that specific order, or a desired result can only be achieved by performing all of the illustrated operations. On the contrary, the steps illustrated in the flow diagrams may change their execution order. Additionally, or alternatively, some steps may be omitted, a plurality of steps may be combined into one step for execution, and/or one step may be decomposed into a plurality of steps for execution. It should also be noted that the features and functions of two or more modules according to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in one module. In turn, features and functions of one module described above may also be further divided into a plurality of modules for embodiment.
[49] Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to several preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the preferred embodiments disclosed here. Embodiments of the present disclosure are intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Although the foregoing disclosure has been described in some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be practised within the scope of the appended claims. Examples of the present disclosure have been described in language specific to structural features and/or methods. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways of implementing both the process and apparatus of the present invention. Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure are to be considered illustrative and not restrictive, and the invention is not to be limited to the details given herein but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims. It should be understood that the appended claims are not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed and explained as examples of the present disclosure.
, Claims:1. A system 100 for testing impact properties of materials, the system comprising
a conducting material 115 coupled between a first electrode 120 and a second electrode 130 in a chamber 110, wherein the first electrode 120 and the second electrode 130 are coupled to a high voltage supply device 140, the first electrode 120 and the second electrode 130 supplied with a high voltage electric pulse to produce an explosion creating a blast wave;
a first of an elongated tube 150 is attached to the chamber 110 and a second end of the elongated tuber is left open, wherein the elongated tube 150 is configured to propagate the blast wave and transform a blast wave to a planar shock wave by focusing the blast wave in the elongated tube 150, and
a material 160 deposited along the path of the planar shock wave at the second end of the elongated tube to be collided by the planar shock wave and impact properties of the material obtained.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the high voltage supply device 140 is configured to provide high voltage electric pulses simultaneously to the first electrodes 120 and the second electrode 1300 when switched to an ON state.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the conducting material 115 is a wire or a thin strip.

4. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the wire or strip is in the range of 10-50 SWG.

5. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the blast wave produced in the chamber 110 is a cylindrical blast wave or a spherical blast wave.
6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elongated tube 150 has a length of about 10 inches to 24 inches.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the elongated tube 150 has a width of about 5 mm to 50 mm.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the shape of the elongated tube 150 is rectangular or square or circular or hexagonal or pentagonal.

9. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the impact of the collision by the planar shock wave on the material is of high load and/or high force on the material over a short duration of time.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the material may be a solid or a fluid or a gel or a gas or a droplet/jet of a material or a substrate or a particle of a material or an organic material or an inorganic material.

11. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second end of the elongated tube 150 is completely sealed.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the elongated tube sealed at the second end is filled with a gas or an inter gas or a fluid or a molten solid, and the material is placed within the elongated tube in the gas or the fluid or the inert gas or the molten solid environment.

13. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein pressure conditions inside elongated tube sealed at the second end may be varied and sustained in a range of about 0.05 mbar to 5 bar during a test run.

14. A method of conducting an impact test on a material, the method comprising:
- creating a cylindrical blast wave using a conducting material coupled between two electrodes, wherein the electrodes are supplied with a high voltage;
- converting the cylindrical blast wave into a planar shock wave by propagating the cylindrical blast wave into an elongated duct, wherein the cylindrical blast wave is focused into the elongated duct converting the cylindrical blast wave to a planar shock wave; and
- interfacing a material with the planar shock wave by impacting the material with a high load and/or high force in a short time period to determine impact properties associated with the material.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the material may be a solid or a fluid or a gel or a gas or a droplet/jet of a material or a substrate or a particle of a material.

16. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein a first end of the elongated tube is sealed to the chamber and a second end of the elongated tube is left open.

17. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the material to be tested is placed in the path of the planar shock wave at the open end of the elongated tube.

18. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the elongated tube is completely sealed at the second end.

19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the elongated tube sealed at the second end is filled with a gas or an inert gas or a fluid or molten solid, and the material is placed inside the sealed elongated tube.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the under-pressure condition inside the sealed elongated tube may be varied and kept constant for a test run.

21. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein the planar shock wave colliding with the material provides structural impact testing of the material at a high load and high force over a short period of time.