Tension testing of polycarbonate at high strain rates

Dynamic tensile tests were performed on polycarbonate using a split Hopkinson tension bar (SHTB) system. A prefixed short metal bar was used to generate the incident stress pulse. The shape of the incident pulse was controlled to meet the requirement of the one-dimensional experimental principle of SHTB. The dynamic tensile stress-strain responses of polycarbonate at high strain rates up to a rate of 1750 s−1 were obtained. Experimental results indicate that the tensile behavior of polycarbonate is dependent on the strain rate. Its yield stress and unstable strain all increase with the increased strain rate. The yield behavior was modeled for a wide range of strain rates based on the thermally activated theory. The correlation between the experimental data and the model is good.