Ultrafast Phase Contrast X-Ray Imaging of Mesoscale Structures Under Shockwave Compression

Recent advancements in additive manufacturing (AM) have opened up previously-infeasible areas of material design, in particular the ability to control the mesoscale structure of a material for specific applications. Mesoscale structure (nm to μm) has a strong influence over a material's response to shockwave compression, a dynamic high-strain environment relevant to the design of structural support, vibration dampening, and shockwave mitigation in aerospace and defense applications. However, predictive understanding of material response to shockwave compression has historically been limited, necessitating the development of next-generation diagnostic techniques for these types of mesoscale-engineered materials. Here we present a dataset of shockwave compression events on AM-generated periodic polymer foams imaged via the ultrafast phase-contrast X-ray techniques available at the Advanced Photon Source, within Argonne National Laboratory. Analysis focuses on velocimetry, physics-based computational modeling of X-ray diffraction, and structure scale dependencies, which together will serve as the basis of a reusable data pipeline for future dynamic material experiments employing this X-ray imaging technique.