High Strain Rate Compaction of Porous Materials - Experiments and Modelling

Porosity can be found in many forms in common materials, either naturally occurring such as wood, or introduced by a manufacturing process. Applications for such materials include impact protection and energy absorption, which require a good understanding of their response to rapid loading. In order to increase confidence in simulations of porous materials under different loading conditions it is important to validate models with experimental data. To support this requirement experiments have been conducted to investigate the compaction behaviour of porous copper samples in the high strain rate regime. Gas gun plate impact trials with impact velocities in the range 100-300 m/s were used to achieve the conditions of interest. Simulations of the experiments were conducted with a focus on accurately modelling the material response in the region prior to complete compaction. This work will report on the experimental technique and the modelling approach employed to achieve good agreement with the data.