An X-ray Study of Shock-Recovered Tantalum Single Crystals

In this paper, we report shock-induced new grains and residual lattice tension in tantalum single crystals. The single crystals with orientations in [001], [011], [111], and [123] directions are shocked at {approx}55 GPa in gas gun under almost identical conditions. New grains in the shocked crystals are revealed by x-ray scanning analysis. Rather than lattice compression that is frequently probed by in situ x-ray diffraction technique, we find significant residual lattice tension in the recovered tantalum crystals. Such residual lattice tension is attributed to the dislocation cells and their deformation. The dislocation cells are accordingly estimated to be greater than 100 nm from broadening of x-ray diffraction peak