An improved test procedure for measurement of dynamic tensile mechanical properties of automotive sheet steels

This paper investigates the effect of specimen geometry and test boundary conditions on the measured dynamic mechanical properties of high strength sheet steel derived from high speed tensile testing at 15m/s, using a servo-hydraulic test machine. In this study, stochastic modelling is used extensively to support experimental investigations. From the results, recommendations are proposed in detail, for an improved specimen design, and hence a robust test procedure, to generate reliable material strain rate sensitivity data for automotive sheet steels at higher strain rates, typically up to 600s -1 . The recommendations proposed are expected to have broader application.