The effect of shock loading on a variety of steels has been reviewed recently by Leslie. It is generally observed that significant changes in microstructure and microhardness are produced by explosive shock deformation. While the effect of shock loading on austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, and pearlitic structures has been investigated, there have been no systematic studies of the shock-loading of microduplex structures.In the current investigation, the shock-loading response of millrolled and heat-treated Uniloy 326 (thickness 60 mil) having a residual grain size of 1 to 2μ before shock loading was studied. Uniloy 326 is a two phase (microduplex) alloy consisting of 30% austenite (γ) in a ferrite (α) matrix; with the composition.3% Ti, 1% Mn, .6% Si,.05% C, 6% Ni, 26% Cr, balance Fe.
