The Symmpact: A Direct-Impact Hopkinson Bar Setup Suitable for Investigating Dynamic Equilibrium in Low-Impedance Materials

Background Measuring the dynamic behavior of low-impedance materials such as foams is challenging. Their low acoustic impedance means that sensitive force measurement is required. The porous structure of foams also gives rise to dynamic compaction waves, which can result in unusual behavior, in particular if the foam material is so thick, that dynamic force equilibrium is not reached. Objective This work investigates comparatively large polyurethane foam specimens with densities in the range of 80 – 240 kg/m3 to deliberately achieve a state away from force equilibrium during high-rate compaction. The aim is to understand how an increase in strain rate leads to a reduction in strength for such materials. Methods A specialized direct-impact Hopkinson bar is employed. It uses polycarbonate bars to achieve the required long pulse duration of 2.6 ms to compress the large specimens into the densification regime. In contrast to existing setups, both striker and output bar are instrumented with strain gauges to monitor force equilibrium. The absence of an input bar allows monitoring force equilibrium more accurately. Special attention is paid to the calibration of strain gauges, taking non-linear effects, wave dispersion and attenuation into account. Digital Image Correlation is employed to analyze elastic and plastic compaction waves by means of Lagrange diagrams. Results Depending on density, the specimens show saturation of dynamic strength increase at high rates of strain $$\approx$$ ≈ 500 /s, or even negative strain rate sensitivity in case of the lowest density. The occurrence of apparent negative strain rate sensitivity is accompanied by a localized structural collapse front, moving at a low velocity of $$\approx$$ ≈ 10 m/s through the material. This apparent strain rate sensitivity is a structural effect which is related to the thickness of the specimen. Conclusions The primary aim of material characterization using Hopkinson bars is to achieve a state of force equilibrium. For this reason, very thin specimens are usually employed. However, data gathered in this way is not representative for thick foam layers. Here, an increase of strain rate can lead to a decrease of strength if homogeneous deformation is replaced by a dynamic compaction wave. This behavior can occur at strain rates encountered under conditions such as automotive crash.

An Experimental and Numerical Study of Quenching-Induced Residual Stresses under the Effect of DSA in an IN718 Superalloy Disc

The effects of Dynamic Strain Ageing (DSA) on residual stresses generated in Ni-base superalloys during heat treatments are not well understood. In this work, the residual stress field induced by water quenching an IN718 disc while undergoing DSA is studied using coupled thermo-mechanical finite element analyses in conjunction with neutron diffraction (ND) measurements. A visco-plastic constitutive model which incorporates the effect of DSA is proposed to describe the experimentally observed negative strain rate sensitivity and abnormal temperature dependence phenomena in the stress-strain response of solid solution treated IN718. The predicted quenching residual stresses in the disc agree well with the ND measurements. Due to the DSA, a propagating high plastic strain rate region can be identified in the disc during the early stages of the quenching process. Due to the negative strain rate sensitivity and abnormal temperature dependence effects caused by DSA, the predicted residual stresses are approximately 10% greater than when those two effects are not accounted for. The effects of different convection heat transfer conditions in the FE model are examined and discussed. It is found that the convection heat transfer coefficients have a great influence both on the disc residual stresses and DSA-related plastic strain rate field predictions.

Negative Strain Rate Sensitivity Induced by Structure Heterogeneity in Zr64.13Cu15.75Ni10.12Al10 Bulk Metallic Glass

The negative strain rate sensitivity (SRS) of metallic glasses is frequently observed. However, the physical essence involved is still not well understood. In the present work, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) reveal the strong structure heterogeneity at nanometer and tens of nanometer scales, respectively, in bulk metallic glass (BMG) Zr64.13Cu15.75Ni10.12Al10 subjected to fully confined compression processing. A transition of SRS of stress, from 0.012 in the as-cast specimen to −0.005 in compression processed specimen, was observed through nanoindentation. A qualitative formulation clarifies the critical role of internal stress induced by structural heterogeneity in this transition. It reveals the physical origin of this negative SRS frequently reported in structurally heterogeneous BMG alloys and its composites.

Effect of Aging Process on the Strain Rate Sensitivity in V-Containing TWIP Steel

The dynamic tensile behavior of the twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steel with the vanadium carbide is investigated at different strain rates of 10−4, 10−3, 10−2 and 0.05 s−1. Microstructure characterization, carried out using back scatter electron diffraction (EBSD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), shows a homogeneous face center cubic structured matrix with uniformly dispersed vanadium carbide. The vanadium carbide is controlled by the aging temperature and time. The best comprehensive mechanical properties are achieved when the tested steel is aged at 550 °C for 5 h. With the increase of strain rate, the tensile strength and work hardening rate decrease, and the tested material shows negative strain rate sensitivity. This would be due to an increase in stacking fault energy caused by temperature rise by adiabatic heating, which must suppress the formation of twinning. On the other hand, the strain rate sensitivity is affected by dynamic strain aging (DSA). With the increase of strain rate, the DSA weakens, which causes negative strain rate sensitivity. The tensile strength and strain rate sensitivity value both increase first and then decrease with the increase of vanadium carbide size. This is because the tensile strength is mainly affected by the vanadium carbide. In addition to the vanadium carbide, the strain rate sensitivity is also affected by the amount of solute atom (V and C) during the dynamic strain aging process.

Effect of Strain Rate on Compressive Behavior of a ZrCuNiAl Bulk Metallic Glass at Room Temperature

In this study, quasi-static and dynamic compression tests were performed on a ZrCuNiAl bulk metallic glass. The results demonstrated that the ZrCuNiAl bulk metallic glass changed from plastic deformation without strain rate effect to brittle fracture with negative strain rate sensitivity. The fracture surface morphology was related to the strain rate and temperature rise. The modified cooperative-shear model was determined to describe the effect of strain rate and temperature rise on the yield stress of ZrCuNiAl bulk metallic glass.

Experimental and numerical investigations of dynamic strain ageing behaviour in solid solution treated Inconel 718 superalloy

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to systematically investigate the dynamic strain aging (DSA) effect in solid solution treated IN718 at different temperatures through experiments and simulations to gain an understanding of the inelastic deformation mechanisms. Design/methodology/approach In the present work, uniaxial tensile tests have been carried out in conjunction with finite element (FE) simulations to investigate the behaviour of the solid solution treated Inconel 718 superalloy at different temperatures and strain rates. Dynamic strain aging (DSA) effects, which manifested during the tests in the form of a negative strain rate sensitivity and stress serrations, are investigated. The most significant DSA effect occurs at 500°C and at a strain rate of 10–4 s-1. In a newly proposed rate-dependent constitutive formulation, the DSA model, proposed by McCormick, Kubin and Estrin, was introduced into slip-assisted solute hardening, and an activation energy-dependent exponential flow rule was adopted. Findings The observed negative strain rate sensitivity and stress serrations are well predicted by a 3 D FE. The FE results indicate that the equivalent plastic strain rate distribution in the specimen gauge length is as highly inhomogeneous as in the other materials exhibiting DSA effects such as aluminium and titanium alloy. During inelastic deformation, propagating high strain rate bands can be closely correlated to the stress serrations. Originality/value For the DSA effect in solid solution treated IN718, the existing researching mainly focuses on the mechanical properties experiment and microstructure observation. In this study, a constitutive formulation, combined with the DSA model, has been proposed, and the mechanical behaviors, including the DSA effect, have been well predicted by a finite element model.