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In the present paper, a series of plate impact shock-reshock and shock-release experiments were conducted to study the critical shear strength of a S2 glass fiber reinforced polymer (GRP) composite under shock compression levels ranging from 0.8 to 1.8 GPa. The GRP was fabricated at ARL, Aberdeen, using S2 glass woven roving in a Cycom 4102 polyester resin matrix. The experiments were conducted by using an 82.5 mm bore single-stage gas gun at Case Western Reserve University. In order to conduct shock-reshock and shock-release experiments a dual flyer plate assembly was utilized. The shock-reshock experiments were conducted by using a projectile faced with GRP and backed with a relatively high shock impedance Al 6061-T6 plate; while for the shock-release experiments the GRP was backed by a relatively lower impedance polymethyl methacrylate backup flyer plate. A multibeam velocity interferometer was used to measure the particle velocity profile at the rear surface of the target plate. By using self-consistent technique procedure described by Asay and Chabbildas [Shock Waves and High-Strain-Rate Phenomena, in Metals, edited by M. M. Myers and L. E. Murr (Plenum, New York, 1981), pp. 417–431], the critical shear strength of the GRP (2τc) was determined for impact stresses in the range of 0.8 to 1.8 GPa. The results show that the critical shear strength of the GRP is increased from 0.108 GPa to 0.682 GPa when the impact stress is increased from 0.8 to 1.8 GPa. The increase in critical shear strength may be attributed to rate-dependence and/or pressure dependent yield behavior of the GRP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ytterbium (Yb) doped fiber lasers are known to be affected by the creation of color centers during lasing (so-called photodarkening (PD)). In a previous work, this defect creation was investigated from a spectroscopic point of view, showing the presence of traces (ppb) of thulium (Tm) in the Yb doped fiber. It was shown that Tm has a strong impact on the defect creation process involved in PD. In this paper, we compare the results from the literature with our Tm hypothesis, without finding any contradiction. Moreover, this hypothesis can be an explanation for the discrepancies in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several methods have been reported in the literature using pulsed thermography for quantitative measurement of defect depth or sample thickness. In this paper, based on the analysis of a theoretical one-dimensional solution of pulsed thermography, a new method was proposed to first multiply the original temperature decay with square root of the corresponding time to obtain a monotonically increasing function f. A specific time was obtained by setting f equals to a predefined value, the theoretical model shows that the obtained specific time has linear relation with square of defect depth, which was verified with the experimental results of one aluminum and one glass fiber reinforced polymer specimen machined with six flat-bottom wedges as simulated defects. This linearity can be used for defect depth prediction in pulsed thermography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]