Strength and fracture of plutonium and its alloy with gallium under impact loading

Results are presented from a theoretical analysis of the conditions of cleavage fracture of plutonium and its alloy with 1.6 wt.% gallium under shock loading. Experimental data obtained earlier are used to determine the critical tensile stresses corresponding to the initial stage of macroscopic cleavage fracture of specimens. The elastoplastic properties of the materials and polymorphic transformations that occur in the alloy at normal and high (315$^\circ$C) temperatures were taken into account in the calculations.