Use of a Beryllium Hopkinson Bar To Characterize a Piezoresistive Accelerometer In Shock Environments

The characteristics of a piezoresistive accelerometer in shock environments are being studied at Sandia National Laboratories in the Mechanical Shock Testing Laboratory. A Hopkinson bar capability has been developed to extend our understanding of the piezoresistive accelerometer, in two mechanical configurations, in the high-frequency, high-shock environments where measurements are being made. In this paper, the beryllium Hopkinson bar configuration with a laser doppler vibrometer as the reference measurement is described. The in-axis performance of the piezoresistive accelerometer for frequencies of dc-50 kHz and shock magnitudes of up to 70,000 g as determined from measurements with a beryllium Hopkinson bar are presented. Preliminary results of characterizations of the accelerometers, subjected to cross-axis shocks in a split beryllium Hopkinson bar configuration are presented.