  Combining an x-ray free electron laser (XFEL) with high power laser drivers
enables the study of phase transitions, equation-of-state, grain growth,
strength, and transformation pathways as a function of pressure to 100s GPa
along different thermodynamic compression paths. Future high-repetition rate
laser operation will enable data to be accumulated at >1 Hz which poses a
number of experimental challenges including the need to rapidly replenish the
target. Here, we present a combined shock-compression and X-ray diffraction
study on vol% epoxy(50)-crystalline grains(50) (slurry) targets, which can be
fashioned into extruded ribbons for high repetition-rate operation. For
shock-loaded NaCl-slurry samples, we observe pressure, density and temperature
states within the embedded NaCl grains consistent with observations for
shock-compressed single-crystal NaCl.
