Crystal orientation dependence of elastic precursor strength in pentaerythritol tetranitrate

Elastic precursor shock strengths were measured using VISAR instrumentation on pentaerythritol tetranitrate crystals 2.9 to 6.4 mm thick. Input shock strength was 1.2 GPa. A factor of 3 difference in elastic shock strength and a factor of 2 difference in critical resolved shear stress were observed depending on the crystal orientation. The order of increasing elastic shock strength was [100], [101], [110], and [001]. This is the same order as that obtained in our analysis for increasing steric hindrance to shear, indicating that the relative strength of different orientations of this molecular crystal under shock conditions is governed by steric hindrance to shear.