Experimental Research on the Characters of Laser-Driven Macro-Flyers

One-dimensional shock loading on the material can be realized using the technique of laser-driven macro-flyer plate and is of applications to the research of high pressure equation of state (EOS) and dynamics under high strain rate. A table-sized pulse Nd:YAG laser was used to drive macro-flyer in this work. The influence of flyer configuration on its flying parameters was experimentally researched. The experiments show that the energy coupling efficiency of flyer plates in complex configuration is improved, relative to the single foil configuration which the average velocity of flyer plates is enhanced by 15%~30%, furthermore, the integrity and planarity of flyer plates in complex configurations are better than those from single foil configurations. The startup relaxation time of flyer is measured to be within 5~10 ns. The planarity of flyer was measured and the results show that time difference of flyer in the range of 1.0 mm is within 20~30 ns. The flyer velocity history was measured and the results show that the flyer has been accelerated to 90% of its terminal velocity in 20 ns.