A rigorous assessment of the benefits of miniaturization in the Kolsky bar system

A rigorous experimental and numerical assessment is made of the benefits and limits of miniaturization in the Kolsky bar system. The primary issues that arise in very high strain rate testing (stress equilibration, inertial effects, wave dispersion, friction, and controllability of deformations) are addressed through experiments coupled with explicit finite element analyses. A miniaturized Kolsky bar system that includes the input bar is developed, together with the use of the laser occlusive radius detector to obtain local measurements of specimen strain during the very high rate deformations. It is demonstrated that this miniaturized Kolsky bar system can be used to provide fully validated results, including the explicit determination of equilibration, over a very wide range of strain rates (1×10³ to 5×10⁴ s⁻¹). The desired high strain rate can be achieved even at low accumulated strains, and the total strain developed can be controlled very effectively. Specific conditions are developed for determining the range of utility of the technique for a given material. The technique is applied to the characterization of 6061-T651 aluminum, and the results are compared with the results obtained using a conventional Kolsky bar.