Nature of the process of overdriven shocks in metals

Within the bounds established by the formal theory of overdriven shocks in solids, an approximate solution is constructed, and a consistent set of approximations for the thermodynamic coefficients is described. Numerical calculations of the temperature, entropy, shear stress, and plastic strain, as functions of compression, are shown for shocks up to 0.8 Mbar in 2024 A1, and up to 3.0 Mbar in Pt. For well-overdriven shocks in metals the shock entropy is generated by heat conduction in the front part of the shock, the heat is generated by plastic flow in the last part of the shock, and the shock rise time is of order ${10}^{-12\mathrm{}}$ s.