Tensile behavior of polycarbonate over a wide range of strain rates

The effect of strain rate on the tensile behavior of polycarbonate was investigated under uniaxial tension loading conditions. The experiments were carried out using a conventional servo-hydraulic testing machine, a moderate strain-rate testing apparatus and a split-Hopkinson tension bar system. The tension stress-strain responses at various strain rates ranging from 0.001 s(-1) up to 1700 s(-1) were obtained. Experimental results show that the strain rate greatly influences the tensile behavior of polycarbonate. The value of yield strength is found to increase with increasing strain rate. A viscoelastic constitutive model consisting of a nonlinear spring and a nonlinear Maxwell element was proposed to describe the tension stress-strain behavior of polycarbonate over a wide range of strain rates. The correlation between the experimental data and the model results is good. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.