Experimental investigation on constitutive behavior of PVB under impact loading

During automotive related accidents, PVB plays an important role in both pedestrian and passenger protection as an interlayer of automotive windshield. In this paper, dynamic constitutive behavior of PVB material is thoroughly studied. Firstly, a set of dynamic compression impact experiments on PVB specimens using SHPB (Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar) method are conducted at strain rates from 700/s to 4500/s. Details of the constitutive response is analyzed based on the validation of experiment data. Stress-strain curve of PVB is then divided into two parts, i.e., “Compaction Stage” and “Hardening Stage”. Dislocations and entanglements among molecules are major reasons for the two-stage phenomena. Constitutive behaviors are different in low and high speed impacts, leading to three times more energy absorption ability of PVB in high speed impact scenario. Further, data fitting models based on both Mooney–Rivlin and Ogden Model are studied and then compared. Mooney–Rivlin Model is found to be more appropriate to describe PVB material. Moreover, PVB is proved to be a rate-dependent material with the failure strength intensify factor β ≈ 4. PVB material shows little viscoelasticity after comparison of the both models with and without the viscoelasticity part. Results offer critical experimental data, constitutive models and analysis of PVB material to further study of automotive crashworthiness and pedestrian/passenger protection.