Investigations on specimen design and mounting for Split Hopkinson Tension Bar (SHTB) experiments

Split Hopkinson Tension Bar (SHTB) experiments can be used to test the material behavior with high strain rates in tension loading. The influence of the specimen mounting and the specimen design on the test results was investigated. Three mounting methods were tested. The best signal is achieve using a mounting based on form fit. The three tested specimen designs all lead to a valid fracture behavior, but result in a different local strain rate.