Dynamics of the nanosecond destruction of stressed granite during shock loading

Abstract

The method of luminescence with a time resolution of 2 ns has been applied to studying the dynamics of the surface destruction of uniaxially compressed granite by a shock wave caused by electric discharge in air near its surface. The shock impact causes emission of jets of positively charged ions from the most strongly distorted regions on the sample surface. It has been discovered that, when the compressing stress reaches ~0.92–0.95 times the sample’s breaking stress, two maxima can be observed on the time dependence of the jet intensity. The first maximum corresponds to the shock wave reaching the sample surface and the second maximum corresponds to the crack destroying the sample.