Real-time x-ray diffraction to examine elastic–plastic deformation in shocked lithium fluoride crystals

An experimental method was developed to obtain quantitative, x-ray diffraction data in laboratory plate impact experiments. This method was used to examine lattice compression accompanying elastic and elastic–plastic deformation in shocked LiF single crystals by imposing well-characterized, macroscopic uniaxial strain along the [111] and [100] axes, respectively. The [111] results reveal that the unit cell undergoes a one-dimensional compression; in contrast, the [100] results reveal an isotropic compression of the unit cell. The implications of the present results and the ability to make quantitative measurements are discussed.