SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 March 2026
STP165320240016

Energy and Momentum in Mechanical Impact Testing

Source

The ASTM G86 method is used to determine the ignition sensitivity of materials to mechanical impact in oxygen. It has long been known that different systems built according to this standard produce different results. Given the current push toward direct comparison of numerical results from different systems rather than just material rankings, it is desirable to normalize the systems to some performance-based metric. Normalization is complicated by the fact that the energy and momentum of a particular impact scale differently with plummet mass and drop height, and therefore adjusting the mass and height to account for system differences would result in a different impact. The standard uses dent blocks to assess impacts. However, it was unknown if the differences in momentum could be identified during dent block impacts. To determine whether they could be so identified, dent blocks were impacted with constant energy and different momentums, using instrumented and noninstrumented plummets. The dent blocks showed statistically significant differences in the penetration function when subjected to impacts with the same energy but different momentum. Further, the instrumented plummet showed drastic differences in the power delivery with different momentums. System configuration was also shown to impact the response of the penetration function to different momentums.

Author Information

Mathe, Steven, A.
Sierra Lobo, Inc., NASA Materials and Laboratories Office, NASA Johnson Space Center White Sands Test Facility, Las Cruces, NM, US
Juarez, Alfredo
Sierra Lobo, Inc., NASA Materials and Laboratories Office, NASA Johnson Space Center White Sands Test Facility, Las Cruces, NM, US
Peralta, Stephen, F.
NASA Materials and Laboratories Office, NASA Johnson Space Center White Sands Test Facility, Las Cruces, NM, US
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Details
Pages: 225–242
DOI: 10.1520/STP165320240016
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-7754-3
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-7753-6