AbstractBy means of ping-pong balls, the dynamic buckling behaviours of thin-walled spherical shells under impact loading are studied both experimentally and numerically. First, the quasi-static tests were conducted on an MTS tester, in which the ball was compressed onto a PMMA plate. Apart from the force-displacement relationship, the evolution of the contact zone between the ball and the plate was obtained by a digital camera. In the impact tests, ping-pong balls were accelerated by an air-gun and then impinged onto a rigid plate with the velocity ranging 10–45 m