Impact energy absorption characteristics of composite structures

The tensile and compressive tests of glass–epoxy composites with 1–200 s⁻¹ strain rates which are typical strain rate range during automobile crash accidents were performed in order to measure the strength variation with respect to strain rate. The tests were performed using both a horizontal type pneumatic impact tester and a conventional dynamic universal test machine with strain-rate-increase mechanisms. Also, the impact energy absorption characteristics of glass fiber reinforced composites were estimated using the newly proposed progressive impact fracture model. From the experiments and predictions, it was found that the proposed method predicted relatively well the experimental results.     

Dynamic compression of cellular cores: temperature and strain rate effects

Cross-linked polyvinyl chloride closed-cell foams were examined under quasi-static and high strain rate compression loading using a servo-hydraulic testing machine and a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus consisting of polycarbonate bars for strain rates up to 1900 s⁻¹. Three foam densities were examined viz. 75, 130, and 300 kg/m³. Each core density has been subjected to compressive loading at room and elevated temperatures. A reverse trend in failure modes was observed when moving from room to elevated temperatures at high strain loading, which was not found in quasi-static testing at elevated temperatures. Accordingly, post-impact tests were conducted to evaluate the residual strength of the foam cores subject to elevated temperatures and HSR. Results of the post-impact test revealed that the foam cores are still capable of taking some loading. The residual strength of cores was fairly constant regardless of temperature therefore recovery of volume does not signify an increase in residual strength of cores.     

Strain rate effects on the mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline Au films

The effect of fabrication, film thickness, and strain rate on the mechanical behavior of Au films with 100 nm (evaporated gold) and 200 nm (electroplated gold) average grain sizes was investigated. Uniaxial tension was imposed at 10^− 3-10^− 6 s^− 1 strain rates on evaporated 0.5 μm and 0.65 μm thick Au specimens, and at 10^− 2-10^− 5 s^− 1 on electroplated 2.8 μm thick Au specimens. Strain rates between 10^− 3 and 10^− 5 s^− 1 had a marked impact on the ultimate strain of evaporated films and less significant effect on their yield and saturation stress. The ductility increased with decreasing strain rate and it varied between 2-4.5% for 500-650 nm thick films and 3.4-10.6% for 2.8 μm thick films. When compared at the same strain rate, the thick electroplated films were more ductile than the thin evaporated films, but their yield and saturation stresses were lower, possibly due to their larger grain size. Qualitatively, the stress-strain behavior was consistent at all rates except at the slowest that resulted in significantly different trends. A marked decrease of the maximum strength, effective Young's modulus, and yield strength occurred at 10^− 6 s^− 1 for thin, and at 10^− 5 s^− 1 for thick films, while for 500 nm thin films multiple stress localizations per stress-strain curve were recorded. Because of temperature, applied stress, and grain size considerations this behavior was attributed to dislocation creep taking place at a strain rate comparable to the applied strain rate.     

Strain energy release rate at interface of concrete overlaid pavements

A new method for calculating energy release rate (ERR) at the interface of concrete overlaid pavements is proposed using crack closure and the nodal force technique. This method transforms a 3D pavement system into a 2D interfacial crack model via a theoretical conversion. The interfacial ERRs of steel fibre-reinforced, roller-compacted, polymer-modified concrete overlay pavement subjected to vehicular load were calculated and compared with the measured interfacial fracture toughness of the bi-material. It was found that the ERRs considerably decrease with the increase in overlay thickness and elastic modulus of foundation. Thin overlays (less than 100 mm) should not be considered in overlay pavement design to avoid interfacial delamination induced by heavy vehicular loading. For a typical overlay pavement system subjected to complex vehicular loads, an interfacial crack suffers mainly from damage due to mode-I, opening, compared to mode-II, sliding, while mode-III, tearing damage is negligible.     

Influence of temperature and strain rate on cohesive properties of a structural epoxy adhesive

Effects of temperature and strain rate on the cohesive relation for an engineering epoxy adhesive are studied experimentally. Two parameters of the cohesive laws are given special attention: the fracture energy and the peak stress. Temperature experiments are performed in peel mode using the double cantilever beam specimen. The temperature varies from −40 to + 80°C. The temperature experiments show monotonically decreasing peak stress with increasing temperature from about 50 MPa at −40°C to about 10 MPa at + 80°C. The fracture energy is shown to be relatively insensitive to the variation in temperature. Strain rate experiments are performed in peel mode using the double cantilever beam specimen and in shear mode, using the end notch flexure specimen. The strain rates vary; for peel loading from about 10⁻⁴ to 10 s⁻¹ and for shear loading from 10⁻³ to 1 s⁻¹. In the peel mode, the fracture energy increases slightly with increasing strain rate; in shear mode, the fracture energy decreases. The peak stresses in the peel and shear mode both increase with increasing strain rate. In peel mode, only minor effects of plasticity are expected while in shear mode, the adhesive experiences large dissipation through plasticity. Rate dependent plasticity, may explain the differences in influence of strain rate on fracture energy between the peel mode and the shear mode.     

Effect of strain rate and temperature on strain hardening behavior of a dissimilar joint between Ti–6Al–4V and Ti17 alloys

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of strain rate and temperature on the tensile properties, strain hardening behavior, strain rate sensitivity, and fracture characteristics of electron beam welded (EBWed) dissimilar joints between Ti–6Al–4V and Ti17 (Ti–5Al–4Mo–4Cr–2Sn–2Zr) titanium alloys. The welding led to significant microstructural changes across the joint, with hexagonal close-packed martensite (α′) and orthorhombic martensite (α″) in the fusion zone (FZ), α′ in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) on the Ti–6Al–4V side, and coarse β in the HAZ on the Ti17 side. A distinctive asymmetrical hardness profile across the dissimilar joint was observed with the highest hardness in the FZ and a lower hardness on the Ti–6Al–4V side than on the Ti17 side, where a soft zone was present. Despite a slight reduction in ductility, the yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the joints lay in-between the two base metals (BMs) of Ti–6Al–4V and Ti17, with the Ti17 alloy having a higher strength. While the YS, UTS, and Voce stress of the joints increased, both hardening capacity and strain hardening exponent decreased with increasing strain rate or decreasing temperature. Stage III hardening occurred in the joints after yielding. The hardening rate was strongly dependent on the strain rate and temperature. As the strain rate increased or temperature decreased, the strain hardening rate increased at a given true stress. The strain rate sensitivity evaluated via both common approach and Lindholm approach was observed to decrease with increasing true strain. The welded joints basically failed in the Ti–6Al–4V BM near the HAZ, and the fracture surfaces exhibited dimple fracture characteristics at different temperatures.     

Effect of strain rate and temperature on the deformation behavior in a Ti-23.1Nb-2.0Zr-1.0O titanium alloy

The compression behavior of a Ti-23.1 Nb-2.0Zr-1.0O (at.％) alloy was investigated at strain rates from 0.1 s-1 to 1000 s-1 and temperatures from 100 ℃ to 200 ℃ on a Gleeble 3800 system and Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) compressive tester.Optical microscopy,electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD),X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were employed to characterize the microstructure evolution during the deformation.Numerous deformation phenomena,including dislocation slip,twinning of both {332}<113> and {112}<111> modes,stress-induced α" martensite (SIMα") and stress-induced ω (SIω) transformations,were observed.The preferred activation of twinning and SIω transformations was observed in the sample compressed at lower temperatures and/or higher strain rates.The underlying mechanism is that twinning and stress induced phase transformations are attribute to higher stress concentrations at β grain boundaries and additional energy supplied by a higher strain rate,as well as high stacking fault energy because of higher temperature.     

Molecular dynamics study of the mechanical behavior of nickel nanowire: Strain rate effects

We present the analysis of uniaxial deformation of nickel nanowires using molecular dynamics simulations, and address the strain rate effects on mechanical responses and deformation behavior. The applied strain rate is ranging from 1 × 10⁸ s⁻¹ to 1.4 × 10¹¹ s⁻¹. The results show that two critical strain rates, i.e., 5 × 10⁹ s⁻¹ and 8 × 10¹⁰ s⁻¹, are observed to play a pivotal role in switching between plastic deformation modes. At strain rate below 5 × 10⁹ s⁻¹, Ni nanowire maintains its crystalline structure with neck occurring at the end of loading, and the plastic deformation is characterized by {1 1 1} slippages associated with Shockley partial dislocations and rearrangements of atoms close to necking region. At strain rate above 8 × 10¹⁰ s⁻¹, Ni nanowire transforms from a fcc crystal into a completely amorphous state once beyond the yield point, and hereafter it deforms uniformly without obvious necking until the end of simulation. For strain rate between 5 × 10⁹ s⁻¹ and 8 × 10¹⁰ s⁻¹, only part of the nanowire exhibits amorphous state after yielding while the other part remains crystalline state. Both the {1 1 1} slippages in ordered region and homogenous deformation in amorphous region contribute to the plastic deformation.     

5CrMnMo应变率和温度相关力学性能实验研究

在较大的温度(25℃-537℃)和应变率(10-4s-1-10-2s-1)范围内对5CrMnMo进行了拉伸实验,获得了相应的应力应变曲线.试验结果表明在室温和试验的应变率范围内(10-4s-1-10-2s-1),5CrMnMo的力学性能是应变率无关的.随着温度的升高,出现了模量E、屈服强度σs和抗拉强度σb的应变率强化效应和温度弱化效应;还出现了加工硬化倾向减小的机制和蠕变效应增大机制,且温度越高这两种机制越强,应变率越高这两种机制越弱.在这两种机制作用下,温度越高失稳应变εb越小,断后伸长率δ50越大;但应变率越高δ50越小.当试验温度较高且应变率较低时,伴随有马氏体板条向拉伸方向偏转的细观特征.     

Strain rate effects on the compressive property and the energy-absorbing capacity of aluminum alloy foams

The strain rate sensitivity of various relative densities, open-cell aluminum alloy foams fabricated by a powder metallurgical method is investigated under compression loading. Their response to strain rate has been tested over a wide range of strain rates, from 10⁻³ to 2600 s⁻¹ at room temperature. Within this range, the experimental results show that the yield strength and the energy absorbed increase with an increase of strain rate. However, the yield strength of higher relative density foams increases bilinearly with the logarithm of strain rate, and the yield strength of lower relative density foams shows only a linear increase. The compaction strain slightly decreases with an increase of strain rate. The higher relative density aluminum alloy foams are more sensitive to strain rate than the lower relative density foams.     

Design and development of hybrid composite bistable structures for energy absorption under quasi-static tensile loading

The composite bistable structures discussed in this paper consist of a material-based mechanism with a saw-tooth strain/stress curve. They have a more damage-tolerant behavior, and considerably higher strain-to-failure than the corresponding monolithic material.     

Mechanical behavior and deformation micromechanisms of polypropylene nonwoven fabrics as a function of temperature and strain rate

The mechanical behavior and the deformation and failure micromechanisms of a thermally-bonded polypropylene nonwoven fabric were studied as a function of temperature and strain rate. Mechanical tests were carried out from 248 K (below the glass transition temperature) up to 383 K at strain rates in the range ≈10⁻³ s⁻¹ to 10⁻¹ s⁻¹. In addition, individual fibers extracted from the nonwoven fabric were tested under the same conditions. Micromechanisms of deformation and failure at the fiber level were ascertained by means of mechanical tests within the scanning electron microscope while the strain distribution at the macroscopic level upon loading was determined by means of digital image correlation. It was found that the nonwoven behavior was mainly controlled by the properties of the fibers and of the interfiber bonds. Fiber properties determined the nonlinear behavior before the peak load while the interfiber bonds controlled the localization of damage after the peak load. The influence of these properties on the strength, ductility and energy absorbed during deformation is discussed from the experimental observations.     

High strain rate effects on direct tensile behavior of high performance fiber reinforced cementitious composites

Direct tensile behavior of high performance fiber reinforced cementitious composites (HPFRCCs) at high strain rates between 10 s⁻¹ and 30 s⁻¹ was investigated using strain energy frame impact machine (SEFIM) built by authors. Six series of HPFRCC combining three variables including two types of fiber, hooked (H) and twisted (T) steel fiber, two fiber volume contents, 1% and 1.5%, and two matrix strengths, 56 MPa and 81 MPa, were investigated. The influence of these three variables on the high strain rate effects on the direct tensile behavior of HPFRCCs was analyzed based on the test results. All series of HPFRCCs showed strongly sensitive tensile behavior at high strain rates, i.e., much higher post cracking strength, strain capacity, and energy absorption capacity at high strain rates than at static rate. However, the enhancement was different according to the types of fiber, fiber volume content and matrix strength: HPFRCCs with T-fibers produced higher impact resistance than those with H-fibers; and matrix strength was more influential, than fiber contents, for the high strain rate sensitivity. In addition, an attempt to predict the dynamic increase factor (DIF) of post cracking strength for HPFRCCs considering the influences of fiber type and matrix strength was made.     

Effects of Strain Rate and Deformation Temperature on Microstructures and Hardness in Plastically Deformed Pure Aluminum

The microstructures and hardness of pure Al samples subjected to plastic deformation with different tem- peratures and strain rates were investigated. The results showed that the strain-induced grain refinement is significantly benefited by increasing strain rate and reducing deformation temperature. The saturated size of refined subgrains in Al can be as small as about 240 nm in cryogenic dynamic plastic deformation (DPD). Grain boundaries of the DPD Al samples are low-angle boundaries due to suppression of dynamic recovery during deformation. Agreement of the measured hardness with the empirical Hall-Petch relation extrapolated from the coarse-grained Al implies that the low-angle boundaries can contribute to strengthening as effective as the conventional grain boundaries.     

A non-local stress and strain energy release rate mixed mode fracture initiation and propagation criteria

A non-local stress condition for crack initiation and propagation in brittle materials is presented. This condition is expressed in terms of normal and tangential traction components acting on a physical plane segment (damage zone) of specified length. Next, a non-local strain energy release rate criterion is proposed. This condition is based on the assumption that initiation or propagation of cracking occurs when the maximal value of the function of opening and sliding energy release rates reaches a critical value. The value of energy release rates is determined for finite elementary crack growth. Mixed mode conditions are considered, for which both the critical load value and the crack orientation are predicted from the non-local stress and energy criteria, which are applicable to both regular and singular stress concentrations. The effect of non-singular second order term (T_σ-stress) on the crack propagation is discussed.     

Effect of temperature and strain rate on tensile behavior of ultrafine-grained aluminum alloys

Ultrafine-grained Al–4Y–4Ni and Al–4Y–4Ni–0.9Fe (at.%) alloys were synthesized by the consolidation of atomized powders and subsequent hot extrusion. The mechanical behavior of these two alloys has been studied by performing uniaxial tension tests ranging from room temperature to 350 °C. These alloys, with high volume fraction of second-phase particles, exhibited ambient temperature tensile strength ranging from 473 to 608 MPa and plastic elongation ranging from 6.7 to 9.6% at an initial strain rate of 1 × 10⁻³ s⁻¹. However, lower ductility was observed with decreasing strain rate at the intermediate temperature ranging from 150 to 250 °C for Al–Y–Ni–Fe alloys due to limited work hardening.     

Strain rate sensitivity and Hall-Petch behavior of ultrafine-grained gold wires

The strain rate sensitivity and Hall-Petch behavior of ultrafine-grained gold (Au) wires were evaluated and compared to results outlined in a similar study conducted on both coarse and ultrafine-grained Au films by Emery [R.D. Emery, G.L. Povirk, Acta Mater. 51 (2003) 2067; R.D. Emery, G.L. Povirk, Acta Mater. 51 (2003) 2079]. The results showed that the strain rate sensitivity (m) of fine-grained Au films is ∼ 0.2, whereas coarse-grained Au films are strain-rate insensitive. In comparison, fine-grained Au wires have a weak m of only 0.02. The Hall-Petch coefficient (k) of Au wires range between 0.02 and 0.06 MPa m^1/2, while the k value of Au film is higher (k ∼ 0.25 MPa m^1/2). These results imply that Au films have a larger strength contribution from the grain boundaries than wires. Addition of calcium in Au wires does not change m, but increases the k value. The difference in k could possibly be attributed to the ability of Ca to increase dislocation density along the grain boundaries.     

Influence of strain rate on ultimate tensile stress of coarse-grained and ultrafine-grained copper

In the present paper OFHC (oxygen free high conductivity) copper was tested by static and dynamic tensile tests at room temperature owing to strain rate investigation. Because of coarse-grained (CG) and ultrafine-grained (UFG) microstructure observation the copper was subjected to drawing and ECAP processes. The investigation of strain rate and microstructure was focused on the ultimate tensile stress (UTS) after the tensile tests. Following this study, it was found that strain rate is an important characteristic influencing the mechanical properties of copper. The ultimate tensile stress grew with strain rate increasing and this effect is more visible at high strain rates ( ~ 10² s⁻¹). Moreover, it was revealed that strain rate hasn't got any influence on the failure mechanism of the copper on the other hand it has an influence on the values of dimple size. While strain rate increases the dimple size decreases.     

Strain rate effects on tensile deformation behavior of Fe-3.5Mn-0.3C-5Al ferritic based lightweight steel

Tensile deformation behavior of Fe-3.5Mn-0.3C-5Al ferritic based lightweight steel was studied in a large range of strain rate (0.001 s⁻¹–1200 s⁻¹). Microstructures of the steel before and after tension were observed. The results show that Fe-3.5Mn-0.3C-5Al lightweight steel has a good strength (820 MPa) and plasticity (40 %) and exhibits excellent combinations of specific strength and ductility (>32000 MPa %) at the strain-rate of 0.001 s⁻¹ after annealing at 850 °C for 5 minutes then directly quenching into water. The austenite in the steel tested was transformed into α′-martensite during the tensile deformation process. With an increase in strain rate from 0.001 s⁻¹ to 1200 s⁻¹, tensile strength of the steel investigated increased from 820 MPa to 932 MPa, while its elongation first decreased from 40 % to 15 %, and then increased from 15 % to 29 %. At the strain rate of 1200 s⁻¹, adiabatic heating resulted in temperature rising in matrix, suppressed the transformation of austenite to α′-martensite. Comparing with transformation induced plasticity steel, the austenite in 3.5Mn lightweight steel is obviously unstable and cannot provide progressive phase transition.     

Dynamic mixed-mode I/II delamination fracture and energy release rate of unidirectional graphite/epoxy composites

Mixed-mode open-notch flexure (MONF), anti-symmetric loaded end-notched flexure (MENF) and center-notched flexure (MCNF) specimens were used to investigate dynamic mixed I/II mode delamination fracture using a fracturing split Hopkinson pressure bar (F-SHPB). An expression for dynamic energy release rate G_d is formulated and evaluated. The experimental results show that dynamic delamination increases linearly with mode mixing. At low input energy E_i ? 4.0 J, the dynamic (G_d) and total (G_T) energy rates are independent of mixed-mode ratio. At higher impact energy of 4.0 ? E_i ? 9.3 J, G_d decreases slowly with mixed I/II mode ratio while G_T is observed to increase more rapidly. In general, G_d increases more rapidly with increasing delamination than with increasing energy absorbed. The results show that for the impact energy of 9.3 J before fragmentation of the plate, the effect of kinetic energy is not significant and should be neglected. For the same energy-absorption level, the delamination is greatest at low mixed-mode ratios corresponding to highest Mode II contribution. The results of energy release rates from MONF were compared with mixed-mode bending (MMB) formulation and show some agreement in Mode II but differences in prediction for Mode I. Hackle (Mode II) features on SEM photographs decrease as the impact energy is increased but increase as the Mode I/II ratio decreases. For the same loading conditions, more pure Mode II features are generated on the MCNF specimen fractured surfaces than the MENF and MONF specimens.