Foamed Liquidand Cellular Metal Shock Attenuation Analysis for Z-IFE

Foamed liquid and cellular materials are being investigated as potential materials for shock mitigation and energy absorption in the IFE Z-pinch power plant concept. These materials are a critical part of the plant design because they absorb the energy that will be converted to electricity, generate tritium, and protect the containment structure. Foamed materials are being considered for shock mitigation because of their low densities. However, for inhomogeneous materials, such as a liquid with gas bubbles or cellular materials, a low density mixture can be obtained using various configurations, morphologies, or cell sizes. For example, cellular metals with different cell sizes, or a different number of pores per inch (ppi), can be fabricated with the same porosity and density. A series of experiments and ALEGRA simulations were conducted to investigate the effect of material configuration on shock mitigation