<title>High-strain-rate characterization of TPOs and graphite/epoxy and graphite/peek composites</title>

Abstract

Tensile and compressive stress-strain response of two types of TPOs and graphite-epoxy composites are investigated at strain rates in the range 0.001/s-1000/s. Specimen strain in the low strain rate regime 0.001-100/s was determined using an optical extensometer in conjunction with standard MTS machine. Tensile test at high strain rate were performed on newly developed tensile version of All- Polymeric Split Hopkinson Bar. Tensile TPO specimens in the dog-bone configuration are placed in specially designed grips fabricated from nylatron. Compression response of TPO specimens at high strain rate is determined using 25.4-mm diameter aluminum bars. Peak compressive stress increases from 10 MPa at a strain rate of 100/s to 35 MPa at a strain rate of 1000/s. Preliminary data on high strain rate tensile response of graphite-epoxy and graphite-peek composites are presented. These data are intended to develop a material model incorporating strain rate sensitivity for TPOs and to be used in car crash simulations.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.