The thermal alteration by pyrolysis of the organic component of small projectiles of mudrock during capture at hypervelocity
In a series of experiments the pyrolytic effects of the heating induced during the hypervelocity impact (HVI) of small projectiles of high TOC mudrock were observed. Impacts at these high speeds (km s-1) release sufficient energy to vaporise metal projectiles, and the temperatures created greatly exceed the pyrolysis temperatures typically employed during laboratory studies of the thermal alterati