Novel pure-shear sheet specimen geometry for dynamic material characterisation

A novel sheet specimen geometry for dynamic pure-shear experiments is proposed. Finite element simulations in ABAQUS/Explicit are used to optimize the specimen geometry. Main objective is to obtain a homogeneous stress state with a low stress tridxiality in the specimen zone subjected to shear. The proposed geometry is used to characterize the dynamic shear behaviour of a Ti-6Al-4V alloy. High speed photography and digital image correlation are used to study the local behaviour of the specimen. The experiments are compared with the simulations. It is found that the maximal strain reached is higher than in tensile tests of this material. The shear experiments thus provide valuable information for material modelling.