An experimental study on the behaviour under impact loading of metallic cellular materials

This paper presents an experimental study on the impact response of metallic cellular materials, i.e. aluminium honeycombs of various cell sizes and wall thicknesses, aluminium foams made from two different manufacturing processes (IFAM and Cymat), as well as hollow sphere agglomerates (nickel and iron). A 60 mm diameter nylon Hopkinson pressure bar is used to improve the signal/noise ratio and to host larger samples containing a sufficient number of cells. Quasi-static and classical Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) tests as well as direct impact Hopkinson bar tests (higher speeds up to 50 m/s) are performed. Significant rate sensitivities are observed for most of the cellular materials studied. Analyses of the potential causes of this macroscopic rate sensitivity show that the microinertia effect in the successive folding process could be an important factor.