The role of strain rate in the dynamic response of materials

Abstract

We start with the response of ductile materials. To understand the response of these materials to fast dynamic loadings, we introduce two approaches to dynamic viscoplasticity. These are the flowstress approach and the overstress approach, and strain rate has different roles with these two approaches. At very high loading rates the flowstress approach implies very high strength, which is hard to explain by microscale considerations, while the overstress approach does not.We then demonstrate the advantage of using the overstress approach by applying the two approaches to the elastic precursor decay problem. Next use the overstress approach to treat the following problems: 1) the 4th power law response in steady flow of ductile materials; 2) high rate stress upturn (HRSU) of ductile materials; and 3) HRSU of brittle materials. With these examples we demonstrate the advantage of using the overstress approach over the flowstress approach. It follows that HRSU means High (strain) Rate Stress Upturn and not High Rate Strength Upturn, as would follow from using the flowstress approach.