Effect of Moisture on High Strain Rate Performance of UHMWPE Fiber Based Composite

• DOI: 10.1016/j.prostr.2019.07.061
• Publication Date: 2019-08-05T15:57:41Z
• Authors: Hemant Chouhan; N. Asija; A. Ahmed; Kartikeya; Naresh Bhatnagar
• Keywords: 0203 mechanical engineering; 02 engineering and technology

Abstract The presented study investigates the effect of moisture absorption on the compressive high strain rate performance of Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene-Synthetic Rubber composite along the thickness direction. Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar is employed to investigate the dynamic compressive properties. The cylindrical test specimens were machined from flat composite laminate fabricated by compression molding. Two types of specimens were used for high strain rate testing. First set of specimen was oven dried at 65°C and second set was dipped in potable water as per NIJ standards. For identical incident energy, different strain rates and stresses were attained by the dry and wet composites, respectively. Impact loading of wet composite resulted in physically intact specimen at the lowest loading rate only; higher loading rates resulted in the macroscopic damage. Experimental results are presented as stress-strain–strain rate plots and a surface fitting approach is adopted to create a phenomenological model capable of describing the overall material response.