Design of a novel high-speed tensile method for testing the high strain rate tensile behavior of aluminum alloys

The high-strain rate mechanical behavior of aluminum alloys is crucial for the stability of electromagnetic launch systems. However, current high-strain rate testing methods are not suitable for large-scale screening of materials needed in electromagnetic launch systems due to their low precision and high cost. In this paper, a novel method for high-strain rate tensile testing of aluminum alloys based on magnetic pulse driving was proposed. The method can generate a fast-rising edge and adjustable stress pulses to enable uniaxial tensile deformation, reaching a target strain rate quickly and keeping it constant. Based on the theory of stress wave transmission, a single-point method for measuring stress–strain relationship of the specimen combining digital image correlation (DIC) technology is proposed. Finite element simulations using the explicit finite element software LS-DYNA demonstrate a good agreement between the strains and strain rate with experimental values. Tensile tests were conducted on AA7075 in the strain rate range of 1000–3000 s−1, the stress–strain relationship obtained from DIC agrees well with the results of traditional Hopkinson bar experiments.