A Summary Report on the 21st Century Needs and Challenges of Compression Science Workshop; September 22-25, 2009, Bishop's Lodge, Santa Re, NM, LA-UR 09-07771

42 pages. Illustrations (color). Cover has slight wear and soiling. The influence that compression science has had on national security science and its manifestation through discovery and application cannot be overstated. In addition to supporting the certification of our nuclear stockpile in the absence of underground testing and a broad spectrum of engineering and defense applications, compression science has altered our view of the material world around us. The discovery of unexpected physical and chemical phenomena and new materials through the application of compression science techniques has led to a new and refined understanding of the nature of chemical bonding in extreme environments. In mechanics, compression is the application of balanced inward ("pushing") forces to different points on a material or structure, that is, forces with no net sum or torque directed so as to reduce its size in one or more directions.[1] It is contrasted with tension or traction, the application of balanced outward ("pulling") forces; and with shearing forces, directed so as to displace layers of the material parallel to each other. The compressive strength of materials and structures is an important engineering consideration. In uniaxial compression the forces are directed along one direction only, so that they act towards decreasing the object's length along that direction. The compressive forces may also be applied in multiple directions; for example inwards along the edges of a plate or all over the side surface of a cylinder, so as to reduce its area (biaxial compression), or inwards over the entire surface of a body, so as to reduce its volume. Technically, a material is under a state of compression, at some specific point and along a specific direction x {display style x} , if the normal component of the stress vector across a surface with normal direction x {display style x} is directed opposite to x {display style x} . If the stress vector itself is opposite to x {display style x} , the material is said to be under normal compression or pure compressive stress along x {display style x} . In a solid, the amount of compression generally depends on the direction x {display style x} , and the material may be under compression along some directions but under traction along others. If the stress vector is purely compressive and has the same magnitude for all directions, the material is said to be under isotropic or hydrostatic compression at that point. This is the only type of static compression that liquids and gases can bear In a mechanical longitudinal wave, or compression wave, the medium is displaced in the wave's direction, resulting in areas of compression and rarefaction. When put under compression (or any other type of stress), every material will suffer some deformation, even if imperceptible, that causes the average relative positions of its atoms and molecules to change. The deformation may be permanent, or may be reversed when the compression forces disappear. In the latter case, the deformation gives rise to reaction forces that oppose the compression forces, and may eventually balance them. Liquids and gases cannot bear steady uniaxial or biaxial compression, they will deform promptly and permanently and will not offer any permanent reaction force. However they can bear isotropic compression, and may be compressed in other ways momentarily, for instance in a sound wave. Every ordinary material will contract in volume when put under isotropic compression, contract in cross-section area when put under uniform biaxial compression, and contract in length when put into uniaxial compression. The deformation may not be uniform and may not be aligned with the compression forces. What happens in the directions where there is no compression depends on the material. Most materials will expand in those directions, but some special materials will remain unchanged or even contract. In general, the relation between the stress applied.…