Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2011
Shock-wave profiles of highly ordered pyrolytic graphite shocked normal to the basal plane of the graphite crystal structure have been measured. For graphite with sufficient orientational order a martensitic transformation to a diamond-like phase is observed with a transition onset pressure 19.6±0.7 GPa, the stability limit of the graphite structure under shock compression. The minimum overpressure required for the transformation is not more than 6 GPa.