A quartz-crystal-embedded split Hopkinson pressure bar for soft materials

A dynamic experimental technique that is three orders of magnitude as sensitive in stress measurement as a conventional split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) has been developed. Experimental results show that this new method is effective and reliable for determining the dynamic compressive stress-strain responses of materials with low mechanical impedance and low compressive strengths, such as elastomeric materials and foams at high strain rates. The technique is based on a conventional SHPB. Instead of a surface strain gage mounted on the transmission bar, a piezoelectric force transducer was embedded in the middle of the transmission bar of a high-strength aluminum alloy to directly measure the weakly transmitted force profile from a soft specimen. In addition, a pulse-shaper technique was used for increasing the rise time of the incident pulse to ensure stress equilibrium and homogeneous deformation in the low-impedance and low-strength specimen.