The effect of strain rate on the mechanical behavior of Teflon foam

The quasi-static (1 x 10(-3), 1 x 10(-2) and 1 x 10(-1) s(-1)) and high strain rate (7200 and 9500 s(-1)) experimental and high strain rate numerical compression deformation of a Gore Polarchip (TM) CP7003 heat insulating Teflon foam was investigated. High strain rate tests were conducted with the insertion of quartz crystal piezoelectric transducers at the end of the transmitter bar of a compression Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) set-up in order to measure the force at the back face of the specimen. A fully developed numerical model of the SHPB test on Teflon was also implemented using LS-DYNA. The simulation stresses showed close correlations with the experimentally measured stresses on the bars. The developed model successfully simulated the high strain rate loading. The damage initiation and progression of experimental high strain rate tests were further recorded using a high speed camera and found to be very similar to those of the simulation high strain rate tests. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.