Non-Newtonian Behavior of Ballistic Gelatin at High Shear Rates

A coordinated modeling and experimental effort to investigate the shear stress-shear strain rate response of ballistic gelatin is presented. A power-law constitutive model that captures non-Newtonian shear-thickening behavior, the evolution of viscosity, and the momentum diffusion at high shear rates is adopted. A simple asymptotic relationship between the maximum wall shear stress and the maximum striking wall velocity is derived in the high diffusion rate regime for a shear flow between two parallel plates. Experimental investigation is conducted on double lap-shear test fixture with gelatin specimens of different thicknesses subjected to high strain rate input on the inner surface, generated by a polymer split Hopkinson pressure bar. This test fixture allows measurement of transmitted shear stress as well as visualization of momentum diffusion through gelatin when imaged by a high speed camera. Gelatin specimens of various thicknesses were used for extracting the power-law model parameters. It is found that ballistic gelatin behaves as a shear-thickening fluid at high shear rates with a power-law exponent of 2.22.