Presenting some of the most recent results of Russian research into
shock compression, as well as historical overviews of the Russian
research programs into shock compression, this volume will provide
Western researchers with many novel ideas and points of view. The
chapters in this volume are written by leading Russian specialists
various fields of high-pressure physics and form accounts of the main
researches on the behavior of matter under shock-wave interaction. The
experimental portions contain results of studies of shock compression of
metals to high and ultra-high pressure, shock initiation of polymorphic
transformations, strength, fracture and fragmentation under shock
compression, and detonation of condensed explosives. There are also
chapters on theoretical investigations of shock-wave compression and
plasma states in regimes of high-pressure and high- temperature. The
topics of the book are of interest to scientists and engineers concerned
with questions of material behavior under impulsive loading and to the
equation of state of matter. Application is to questions of high-speed
impact, inner composition of planets, verification of model
representations of material behavior under extreme 1oading conditions,
syntheses of new materials, development of new technologies for material
processing, etc. Russian research differs from much of the Western work
in that it has traditionally been wider-ranging and more directed to
extremes of response than to precise characterization of specific
materials and effects. Western scientists could expect to benefit from
the perspective gained from close knowledge of the Russian work.
