Table 1 High strain-rate regimes, the associated equipment and stimulus duration

10⁻⁶–10⁻²

Instron

100 s of seconds

Quasi-static loading

10⁺²–10⁺³

Drop weight

10 s milliseconds

Generally used to determine impact ignition thresholds

10⁺²–10⁺³

Hopkinson bars

100 s microseconds

Compression, tension and torsion loading. Extensively used for PBX formulations. Constitutive models

10⁺⁴–10⁺⁵

Miniature Hopkinson bar

10 s microseconds

For fine grain materials or single crystals. Generally metals

10⁺³–10⁺⁶

Taylor impact

10 s microseconds

Sometimes used for metal jacketed energetic samples

10⁺⁵–10⁺⁸

Plate impact

Microseconds

Pressures and durations similar to that of gap tests. Laser driven flier plates have sub-microsecond duration high-intensity shocks