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Updated: May 25, 2026

Determining the Mechanical Strength of Ultra-Fine-Grained Metals
Published on: November 22, 2021
Use of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability to infer yield stress at high-energy densities
Guy Dimonte1, G Terrones, F J Cherne
1Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Abstract:
We use the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) at a metal-gas interface to infer the metal's yield stress (Y) under shock loading and release. We first model how Y stabilizes the RMI using hydrodynamics simulations with a perfectly plastic constitutive relation for copper (Cu). The model is then tested with molecular dynamics (MD) of crystalline Cu by comparing the inferred Y from RMI simulations with direct stress-strain calculations, both with MD at the same conditions. Finally, new RMI experiments with solid Cu validate our simulation-based model and infer Y~0.47 GPa for a 36 GPa shock.
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