Strain Rate Effect on Mechanical Behavior of Metallic Honeycombs under Out-of-Plane Dynamic Compression

Although many researches on the dynamic behavior of honeycombs have been reported, the strain rate effect of parent materials was frequently neglected, giving rise to the underestimated plateau stress and energy absorption (EA). In this paper, the strain rate effect of parent materials on the out-of-plane dynamic compression and EA of metallic honeycombs is evaluated by both numerical simulation and theoretical analysis. The numerical results show that the plateau stress and the EA increase significantly if the strain rate effect is considered. To account for the strain rate effect, a new theoretical model to evaluate the dynamic compressive plateau stress of metallic honeycombs is proposed by introducing the Cowper-Symonds relation into the shock theory. Predictions of the present model agree fairly well with the numerical results and existing experimental data. Based on the present model, the plateau stress is divided into three terms, namely static term, strain rate term, and inertia term, and thus the influences of each term can be analyzed quantitatively. According to the analysis, strain rate effect is much more important than inertia effect over a very wide range of impact velocity.