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The effect of strain rate on mechanical properties of Al-2.3wt.%Mg alloy (AA5021) and commercial pure aluminum (purity 99.7wt.%: A1070) was investigated at room temperature. The tensile tests were conducted at strain rates from 1.0×10−4 to 1.0×103 s−1. The universal testing machine was used for strain rate 1.0×10-4 to 1.0×10−1 s−1. For the strain rate 1.0×100 s-1, the servohydraulic testing machine, which was developed by our laboratory, was used. The impact strain rate 1.0×103 s−1 was obtained using the split Hopkinson pressure bar method. The pure aluminum showed positive strain rate dependence of material strength at the investigated strain rates. In contrast, the Al-2.3wt.%Mg alloy showed the negative strain rate dependence at strain rates from 1.0×10−4 to 1.0×100 s−1. However, Al-2.3wt.%Mg alloy showed the positive strain rate dependence at strain rates from 1.0×100 to 1.0×103 s−1. It was surmised that the effect of dislocation locking by the solute Mg atoms became negligible at strain rate of approximately 1.0×100 s−1. It was confirmed that material properties for the Al-Mg alloy at the strain rate of 1.0×100 s−1 were important, since the strain rate dependence changed negative to positive around this strain rate.

The payload fairing in Japan is fixed by a lot of notched bolts. These notched bolts were fractured by axial impact tensile using the explosive devices to separate the fairing. In this case, the stress waves and the oscillations propagate, which may seriously damage the satellites. In this study, the impact deformation and the fracture behavior of notched titanium alloy bolt was investigated using a split Hopkinson pressure bar method. The notched bolt specimen was made of commercial Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The maximum load value was increased with increasing the displacement rate. It can be said that the strain rate dependence of strength for Ti-6Al-4V alloy appeared. From the observation of fracture surface using a scanning electron microscope, compared with the quasi-static test, it was clear that the irregularities of the fractured surface at the impact tensile test became rough. Therefore, it was found that the brittle fracture was mainly observed due to the increase in displacement rate, which may mean that the mode of fracture changes from the transgranular to the intergranular. It was surmised that this change of fracture mode was caused by the high strain rate due to stress concentration of the notched part.

Indentation is widely used to investigate the elastic and plastic properties of mechanical materials, which includes the strain rate sensitivity. The indentation exhibits an inhomogeneous strain distribution in contrast to compression and tensile tests with homogeneous deformation. Thus, the strain rate of the indentation may form the inhomogeneous distribution. Therefore, the effect of strain rate distribution of the indentation on pure aluminum with respect to the strain rate dependence of strength in order to clarify the effect of the strain rate on the indentation technique. First, the numerical simulation was established using the Cowper-Symonds equation as the dynamic constitutive equation. Secondary, the strain rate distribution was calculated from the equivalent plastic strain distribution. The strain rate distribution was quite different from the strain distribution, which showed that the strain rate at the crater rim was higher than that beneath the indenter. Finally, we try to perform the averaging of strain rate distribution in order to make an index of strain rate in the indentation. The average of strain rate distribution was calculated using the equivalent plastic strain above a boundary value that is the critical strain and the representative strain. There is correlation between the average strain rate and the loading curvature, which shows that the average strain rate can express as the representative of strain rate for the indentation technique.