Investigation of dynamic behaviour of copper at high temperature

In this work a complete study about the dynamic response of pure copper at high temperature is performed in tension, on dog bone specimens with cylindrical cross-section. The tensile tests varying the strain rate are performed from quasi-static to dynamic regime, covering six orders of magnitude. The heating of the specimens in quasi-static condition is obtained with an induction coil system, designed to concentrate the heat flux in the gage length of the specimen. The temperature range varies between 20 and 400uC. In the perspective to perform also tests in mixed loading conditions, in this work, a methodology for testing materials at high temperature and high strain rate is described. The method uses the standard Hopkinson Bar apparatus for direct tensile tests with the same heating system used in quasi-static tests. The obtained experimental results are analysed and finally compared with those available in the scientific literature.