TESTING AND MODELING HIGH-STRAIN RATE BEHAVIOR OF POLYMERIC COMPOSITES

The present study was aimed at modeling the high strain rate response of the unidirectional S2Glass/8553-40 polymeric composite material sys tem. High strain rate experiments were conducted on a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB), on balanced symmetric laminates from which the st ress, strain and strain rate histories within the laminates were recov ered. Strain rates of the order of 1000/s were achieved in the specime n. A 3-D viscoplasticity model was used to describe the high strain ra te response of the composite. A computer code was written to incorpora te the constitutive equations into the finite element code ABAQUS, whi ch was subsequently used to analyze the dynamic response of the compos ite specimen in the high strain rate SHPB experiment. Comparison of th e analysis result with experimental data indicates that the viscoplast icity model determined using low strain rate testing can still be vali d for modeling the high strain rate responses. (C) 1998 Published by E lsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.