An Inverse Problem for the Mechanical Characterization of Steels From the Taylor Test

Abstract

Material characterization procedures are often complicated processes. In particular, dynamic material characterization usually requires many complicated and expensive tests. One of the tools used to characterize the behavior of materials under dynamic loading is the Taylor impact test. In this experiment, a flat-ended cylinder of initial uniform cross-sectional area is fired at a rigid target. The terminal geometry of the deformed cylinder is used to determine the material strength at different strain rates. This paper presents the formulation and solution of a first class inverse problem for the identification of the kinematic hardening material model from a Taylor impact test of a steel cylinder. The inverse problem is formulated as an optimization procedure for the determination of the optimal set of the model constants. The input parameter of the procedure is the final shape of a Taylor impact test specimen, in terms of central geometric moments, at a given impact velocity. The output parameters are the material model constants, which are determined by fitting the final shape of a numerically simulated Taylor specimen to the final shape of the experimental specimen. This optimization procedure is performed by a real-coded genetic algorithm. The paper includes a numerical example of the characterization procedure for a steel 1018 Taylor specimen of 8 mm diameter and 20 mm length, impacted at a velocity of 250 m/s. This simulation demonstrates the performance of the algorithm and the ability to estimate the kinematic hardening material model constants.