Effects of strain rate and elevated temperature on compressive flow stress and absorbed energy of polyimide foam

In this study, at first, the effect of strain rate on the strength and the absorbed energy of polyimide foam was experimentally examined by carrying out a series of compression tests at various strain rates, from 10−3 to 103 s−1. This polyimide foam has open cell structure with small cell size of 0.3 ∼ 0.6 mm. In the measurement of impact load, a special load cell with a small part for sensing load was adopted. For the measurement of the displacement, a high-speed camera was used. It was found that the flow stress of polyimide foam and the absorbed energy up to a strain of 0.4 increased with the increase of the strain rates. Secondly, the effect of ambient temperature on the strength and absorbed energy of polyimide foam was also investigated by using a sprit Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus and testing at elevated temperatures of 100 and 200 ∘C. With the increase of temperature, the strength and absorbed energy decreased and the effect is smaller in dynamic tests than static tests.