High strain-rate tensile testing and viscoplastic parameter identification using microscopic high-speed photography

A combined experimental/numerical method for determination of constitutive parameters in high strain-rate material models is presented. Impact loading, using moderate projectile velocities in combination with small specimens (sub mm) facilitate tensional strain rates in the order of 104–105 s−1. Loading force is measured from one-dimensional wave propagation in a rod using strain gauges and deformation is monitored with a high-speed camera equipped with a microscope lens. A sequence of digital photographs is taken during the impact loading and the plastic deformation history of the specimen is quantified from the photographic record. Estimation of material parameters is performed through so called inverse modelling in which results from repeated FE-simulations are compared with experimental results and a best choice of constitutive parameters is extracted through an iterative optimisation procedure using the simplex method. Results are presented from a preliminary tension test of a mild steel (A533B) at a strain rate well over 104 s−1. The sensitivity of the evaluated material parameters to errors in measured quantities is studied. The method, especially the optical technique for measurement of deformation will be further developed.