Influence of specimen profile size and thickness on the dynamic compressive behavior of rigid PVC foams

Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) apparatuses were extensively utilized in the dynamic testing of polymeric foams in previous studies; however, there are many technical limitations on the specimen size when utilizing SHPBs. Consequently, most research on the influence of specimen size on the mechanical response was limited to the quasi-static loading regime. The specimen size effect was reported to be negligible in the quasi-static regime. This observation was traditionally extrapolated to the dynamic regime; however, the hypothesis has not been thoroughly verified by experimental testing. The present study represents the most thorough investigation (to date) on the influence of specimen shape, cross-sectional area and thickness on the dynamic mechanical response of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) foams. A drop tower testing machine equipped with a massive 45.45 kg dropping entity and a novel sacrificial energy dissipation system was employed for the dynamic testing. The findings from this work revealed a significant sensitivity to the specimen profile on the dynamic mechanical response of PVC foams in contrast to the negligible effects in the quasi-static regime. Investigating the effect of specimen thickness on the mechanical response further demonstrated that the engineering strain rate is not a suitable index for reporting PVC foams' rate sensitivity. Instead, the impact velocity is more appropriate since specimens with different thicknesses exhibited a similar compressive stress/strain response when tested at the same impact velocities while experiencing different engineering strain rates. The influence of specimen shape (rectangular versus cylindrical) was negligible in both the quasi-static and dynamic regimes.