Impact and high strain-rate tests at high temperature

In many applications such as machining, metal forming, high-velocity impact, or high energy deposition on metals, materials are deformed at very high rates and in many cases also at high temperature. The stress–strain response of materials and structures will be a balance between the effects of hardening (due to strain and strain-rate) and thermal softening: temperature and strain-rate sensitivities are mutually related, and the thermal effects obtained from quasistatic tests cannot always be used to predict material response under dynamic loading conditions. Hence, the need to investigate the mechanical response of materials in a properly defined range of interest: the development of testing methodologies and facilities able to completely explore it is the starting point. The chapter collects and analyzes some experimental techniques applicable for impact and high strain-rate tests at high temperatures focusing the attention on methodologies and related problems and providing a review of the solutions adopted by researchers in the last decades.