Asymmetric shock recovery experiments with a two stage gas gun were conducted on a 10 μm grain size alumina at 6.5 GPa shock pressures levels which was more than three times as high as the Hugoniot Elastic Limit (HEL) of the same alumina and the shock recovered alumina fragments were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Based on these results a new qualitative damage model was developed to explain the deformation mechanisms of shock loaded alumina.