Experimental and numerical study of the effect of micro-structure on the rate-sensitivity of cellular foam

ABSTRACT

Understanding the dynamic behavior of cellular foam is essential for designing anti-collision structures. In this work, the rate-sensitivity of cellular foam was analyzed on dynamic experiments of split Hopkinson pressure bar and finite element methods (FEM). A typical circular ring structure is introduced in the FEM analyses to estimate the effects of the post-buckling behavior of cell walls on the properties of stress enhancing as the strain rate increases. The quadrilateral/circular honeycomb foam structure is used to estimate the contribution of micro-structure and matrix effects. These results show that the post-buckling of a micro-structure is an important rate-sensitivity factor.

KEYWORDS:

• Strain rate effect
• micro-structure
• dynamic
• alumina foam
• matrix

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Jilin Yu, Zhijun Zheng, Zhibin Li, and Hang Zheng of the University of Science and Technology of China for their suggestions and support. The authors would also like to thank the editors and reviewers for their critical comments and suggestions.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos: 90916026, 11272304, 11472264) and the China Scholarship Council (No. 201306345008).