Impact behavior of entangled steel wire material

Entangled steel wire (Q195F) with total porosity of 36.3 ± 1.3 to 61.8 ± 2.4% and pore sizes of 15–825 µm have been investigated in terms of the porous morphologies, impact deformation and failure behavior. The results reveal that the impact toughness increases with the decrease of the porosity. The sintered entangled steel wire materials with 61.8 ± 2.4% porosity exhibit an average of 11.8 J/cm2 impact toughness. With 36.3 ± 1.3% porosity, the sintered materials have an average of 45.5 J/cm2 impact toughness. Impact absorbing energy and impact toughness have been obtained by Charpy impact testing. Essential impact deformation and failure mechanisms such as pore edges (i.e. fibers) bending, bulking, rotating, yielding, densification and fracture, as well as break (or avulsion) of sintering points in the steel wire framework contribute to the excellent energy-absorbing characteristics under impact loading condition.