Defence Technology 15 (2019) 875e884

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Defence Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/dt

Investigating the dynamic mechanical behaviors of polyurea through

experimentation and modeling
Hao Wang a, Ximin Deng b, Haijun Wu a, *, Aiguo Pi a, Jinzhu Li a, Fenglei Huang a
a
State Key Laboratory of Explosion Science and Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China
b
Wuhan Guide Infrared Co., Ltd, Wuhan, 430000, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Polyurea is widely employed as a protective coating in many fields because of its superior ability to
Received 26 December 2018 improve the anti-blast and anti-impact capability of structures. In this study, the mechanical properties
Received in revised form of polyurea XS-350 were investigated via systematic experimentation over a wide range of strain rates
17 April 2019
(0.001e7000 s
1) by using an MTS, Instron VHS, and split-Hopkinson bars. The stress-strain behavior of
Accepted 26 April 2019
Available online 3 May 2019
polyurea was obtained for various strain rates, and the effects of strain rate on the primary mechanical
properties were analyzed. Additionally, a modified rate-dependent constitutive model is proposed based
on the nine-parameter Mooney-Rivlin model. The results show that the stress-strain curves can be
Keywords:
Polyurea
divided into three distinct regions: the linear-elastic stage, the highly elastic stage, and an approximate
Strain rate effect linear region terminating in fracture. The mechanical properties of the polyurea material were found to
Dynamic mechanical properties be highly dependent on the strain rate. Furthermore, a comparison between model predictions and the
Constitutive model experimental stress-strain curves demonstrated that the proposed model can characterize the me-
chanical properties of polyurea over a wide range of strain rates.
© 2019 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of China Ordnance Society. This is
an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/
4.0/).

1. Introduction curves for polyurea. They also observed a transition of polyurea

Polyurea is a type of elastomeric polymer that is extensively
used as a protective coating in many industrial applications, such as
vehicles, ships, and buildings. Due to its superior physical and
mechanical properties, it is regarded as an energy-absorbing ma-
terial that can enhance structural resistance to blasts and ballistic
loading. However, as the polyurea coating may experience a wide
range of loading rates under impact, it is essential to characterize
the mechanical properties of polyurea at different strain rates and
establish a constitutive model to further improve the quality and
efficiency of protective designs.
The absorbed-energy capacity of polyurea is closely related to its
mechanical properties under high strain-rate loading. Scholars
have studied the mechanical properties of polyurea over a limited
range of strain rates. By using a universal testing machine and
SHPB, Yi et al. [1] and Sarva et al. [2] observed an apparent
nonlinear correlation and strain rate effect in the stress-strain
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wuhj@bit.edu.cn (H. Wu).
Peer review under responsibility of China Ordnance Society
from rubbery-regime behavior to leathery-regime behavior as the
strain rate was increased. Similarly, Roland et al. [3] and Pathak
et al. [4] performed stress-strain measurements of polyurea in
uniaxial tension for low-to-moderate strain rates (10
3e102 s
1).
They found that the strength and stiffness gradually increased,
whereas the damage strain gradually decreased as the strain rate
was increased. Shim et al. [5] developed a modified SHPB system to
perform compression tests on polyurea for strain rates ranging
from 10 to 103 s
1.
Numerical simulation has recently emerged as an important
method to aid design, as an accurate material model of polyurea is
essential. Hence, the establishment of a constitutive material model
purposed for finite element analysis has been the focus of most
related research. Shim et al. [6] proposed a rate-dependent finite-
strain constitutive model to describe the continuous and multi-step
compression behavior of polyurea for strain rates ranging from
10
3 to 10 s
1. Amirkhizi et al. [7] developed a constitutive model of
linear viscoelasticity that considered the effects of pressure; how-
ever, the applicability of their model is limited. Based on uniaxial
tensile test results for polyurea, Raman et al. [8] proposed an
empirical correlation to represent the effects of strain rate on the

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dt.2019.04.016
2214-9147/© 2019 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of China Ordnance Society. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
876 H. Wang et al. / Defence Technology 15 (2019) 875e884

modulus of elasticity and yield stress. Mohotti [9] proposed a rate-

dependent Mooney-Rivlin model to predict the high strain-rate
behavior of polyurea. Guo et al. [10,11] proposed different consti-
tutive models focusing on strain rate and temperature. Zhang et al.
[12] also proposed a bilinear constitutive model of polyurea to
describe the temperature, strain rate, and pressure dependencies of
the stress-strain behaviors.
This paper describes mechanical experiments on polyurea XS- Fig. 1. Geometry of the quasi-static tensile test sample. (Measurements are in mm.)
350 under compression and tensile loading that were conducted
for strain rates ranging from 0.001s
1 to 7000s
1 by using an MTS,
Instron VHS, and split-Hopkinson bar experimental system. The
experimental results were analyzed to determine the effects of
strain rate on the compressive and tensile stress-strain behaviors.
In addition, the nine-parameter Mooney-Rivlin (MR) model was
modified by introducing a rate-dependent component to describe
the visco-hyperelasticity of polyurea. The experimental data was
used to calibrate the parameters for the new constitutive model.
Finally, the accuracy of the model was validated with the experi-
mental data obtained for polyurea.
Fig. 2. (a) Polyurea tensile test sample, and (b) sample undergoing tensile testing.

2. Experimental procedures

2.1. Materials

XS-350 was employed as the polyurea specimens produced by

company LINE-X in this study. This material is a two-component,
high-performance elastomer spraying material, with the raw ma-
terials including an A component of isocyanate and a B component
of RESIN. In the processing process, stir together the two compo-
sitions until the mixture is uniform, then spray on flat plate and let
stand until cured. The basic performance parameters are presented
in Table 1. Fig. 3. (a) Polyurea compression test sample, and (b) sample undergoing compression
testing.

2.2. Mechanical tests

2.2.2. Intermediate strain rate testing
The intermediate strain-rate experiment was performed on an
2.2.1. Quasi-static and low strain rate testing
Instron VHS dynamic experimental machine at the China Aircraft
Quasi-static and low strain rate tensile and compression tests
Strength Institute. The testing method and data processing method
were performed by using an MTS servo-hydraulic machine. Each
are similar to those implemented in the low strain-rate experiment.
test was repeated at least three times and conducted at room
Because there is no applicable international or national standard for
temperature (approximately 25  C). The force and displacement
dynamic mechanical performance tests for polyurea elastomer,
data were recorded by the data acquisition system and used to
relevant literature was referenced to determine the sample size in
calculate the corresponding engineering stress-strain curves.
this study [9]. The tensile specimen thickness, which is illustrated
Moreover, the true stress and true strain were calculated in
in Fig. 4, is 6 mm; furthermore, bolts were used to affix the clamp to
consideration of the fact that polyurea is a bulk and (nearly)
the material (Fig. 5). Fig. 6 shows the Instron dynamic testing sys-
incompressible material; true stress is the load divided by the
tem and a tensile specimen undergoing the test. The compression
current cross-sectional area, and the true strain is the natural log-
sample was fabricated in accordance with the ISO 23592 standard
arithm of the ratio of the current length to the initial length.
[14], which suggests a cylinder with a diameter of 19 mm and
The test specimens were cut from a polyurea plate that was
height of 6 mm.
processed by using a spraying technique. The tensile samples were
designed in accordance with the ISO 37 standard [13], as is shown
in Fig. 1. A polyurea sample implemented in tensile testing, and a 2.2.3. High strain rate testing
photograph of a sample undergoing tensile testing, are depicted in Split-Hopkinson compression bar (SHPB) and split-Hopkinson
Fig. 2. The compression test samples were designed in accordance tensile bar (SHTB) were used to perform the high strain-rate
with the ISO 23592 standard [14]; they were designed as a cylinder compression and tensile tests on polyurea, respectively. Fig. 7(a
with a diameter of 10 mm and height of 4 mm. Fig. 3(a) and (b) and b) presents a schematic of the split-Hopkinson compression
shows a polyurea compression test sample, and a sample under- and tensile bars. The strain gauges are located near the center of the
going compression testing, respectively. incident bars, and near the specimen/transmission bar interface.

Table 1
Basic performance parameters of XS-350.

Type Density/(g$cm
3) Elastic Modulus/MPa Shore Hardness Elongation(%) Bending Strength /MPa Tear Strength /MPa Tensile Strength /MPa

XS-350 1.0 100 60 162 18.1 13.7 19.2

 H. Wang et al. / Defence Technology 15 (2019) 875e884 877

Fig. 4. Geometry of the intermediate strain-rate test sample. (Measurements are in mm.)

Fig. 5. Schematic of the extender system: (a) plan view and (b) section view. (Measurements are in mm.)

Copper discs were employed as pulse shapers to maintain a dy- at its back end F2 follow the relationship
namic stress equilibrium and facilitate constant strain rate defor-
mation in the specimen by appropriately modifying the profile of F1 ¼ F2 (1.a)
the incident pulse [15]. In addition, petroleum jelly was applied on
the interfaces between the bars and the specimen to reduce fric- F1 ¼ FI þ FR ¼ A1 E1 ðεi ðtÞ þ εr ðtÞÞ (1.b)
tion. The material and geometric details of the bars are summarized
in Table 2. F2 ¼ FT ¼ A2 E2 εt ðtÞ (1.c)
The tensile test specimen was formed into a dumbbell-shaped
sheet with a thickness of 4 mm. The specimen was connected to where εi(t), εr(t), and εt(t) are the incident, reflected, and trans-
the pull rod by a special fixture, and the sizes of the sample and mitted strain pulses, respectively; E1, A1, E2, A2 are the elastic
fixture are shown in Fig. 8. It should be noted that the thickness of modulus, the cross-sectional area of incident and transmitted bars,
the compression test specimen will affect the reliability of the data. respectively. The dynamic average stress ss(t), strain εs(t), and
Considering the low wave velocity of this material, the stress wave strain rate ε_ s ðtÞ of the specimen can be calculated via the following
occurring within the specimen after multiple reflections allows the equations with consideringA1 ¼ A2 in this paper:
material to achieve a uniform state; thus, the sample must be


designed to have a low ratio of length to diameter. Previous liter- 1 E1 A1 E A E A εt ðtÞ
ature [5] has reported that the ratio of length to diameter of the
ss ðtÞ ¼ ðεi ðtÞ þ εr ðtÞÞ þ 2 2 εt ðtÞ ¼ 2 1 (2)
2 As As As
elastomer specimen should range from 0.25 to 0.5 in order to
significantly reduce the attenuation and frictional effects of the ðt ðt
stress wave. Thus, in order to achieve the desired experimental C1 ½εi ðtÞ
εr ðtÞdt
C2 εt ðtÞdt
0 0
strain rate, two compression samples of different sizes were εs ðtÞ ¼ (3)
ls
required. The first and second samples were cylinders with di-
ameters and heights of 6 mm and 2 mm, and 10 mm and 4 mm,
C1 ðεi ðtÞ
εr ðtÞÞ
C2 εt ðtÞ
respectively. ε_ s ðtÞ ¼ (4)
The basic theoretical assumptions employed in the split- ls
Hopkinson bar experiment are the one-dimensional stress wave
where C1 and C2 are the longitudinal wave velocity of the incident
theory and dynamic stress equilibrium assumption. According to
and transmitted bars, respectively; As and ls are the cross-sectional
this stress uniformity assumption, the axial force at its front F1, that
area and length of the specimens, respectively. Fig. 9 shows the
878 H. Wang et al. / Defence Technology 15 (2019) 875e884

dynamic stress equilibrium.

3. Results and discussion

The stressestrain curves for the samples under axial extension

Fig. 6. Instron VHS dynamic experimental machine.
and compression are as shown in Figs. 11 and 12, respectively. It is
evident from these figures that the polyurea material exhibited
remarkable strain-rate hardening and strain hardening effects, and
high nonlinearity. The true stress-strain curves at low strain rates
can be observed to have three distinct stages. The initial region
represents an initial linear-elastic stage. In this regime, the stress is
proportional to the strain, and the relationship between stress and
strain satisfies Hooke's law. The second region represents a highly
elastic stage in which the stress increases slowly with increased
strain on the material. The third region is an approximate linear
region that terminates in fracture; at this stage, the material
exhibited a significant strain hardening effect. The material of the
elastic modulus can clearly be observed to dramatically increase in
response to an increasing strain rate. It increased about 30 times at
strain rates of 4000/s in this paper. Additionally, the general trend
of the stressestrain curves demonstrates that the yield strain
decreased with increased strain rate. It is necessary to note that
only the linear-elastic component of the relationship between
strain and stress was recorded during the SHTB test because the
tension specimen failure after several repetitions of stress wave
loading. In addition, stress values obtained from the tensile and
compression test data were found to be similar for a given strain
rate and strain.
The polyurea did not display any distinct yield behavior. A 0.2%
offset method was used to quantify the yield stress, which is shown
in Fig. 13 as a function of the logarithm of the strain rate. The yield

Fig. 7. Configuration of the split-Hopkinson compression and tensile bars: (a) loading device and (b) bar component and measurement system.

Table 2
Material and geometric details of the bars.

Machine Bar type Material Diameter/mm Length/mm Density/(g$cm
3) Elastic Modulus /GPa

SHPB Striker bar 18Ni Steel 19 23,38 7.85 210

Incident bar 18Ni Steel 19 1200 7.85 210
Transmission bar 7075Al 19 1200 2.7 75
SHTB Striker bar Ti 19 35 4.5 110
Incident bar Ti 19 2200 4.5 110
Transmission bar Ti 19 1200 4.5 110

typical oscilloscope records in SHPB. The force histories during this stress was found to vary from 10 to 43 MPa over the wide range of
experiment are illustrated in Fig. 10. The FR curve was almost strain rates implemented in this study, thereby demonstrating
coincided with that of the difference between FT and FI , demon- considerable sensitivity to the strain rate; in particular, at high
strating that the specimen deforms follows the hypothesis of the strain rates, the yield stress sharply increased with increasing strain
 H. Wang et al. / Defence Technology 15 (2019) 875e884 879

Fig. 8. (a) Geometry of high strain-rate tensile sample, and (b) schematic of the fixture used in tensile testing. (Measurements are in mm.)

Fig. 9. Typical oscilloscope records in SHPB.

Fig. 10. Typical force histories in SHPB.

Fig. 11. Tensile stress-strain curves for various strain rates.

rate. Because strain rate increase can profoundly alter intermolec-

ular interactions, polyurea undergoes a transition from rubbery-
been reported by Yi [1] and Sarva [2].
regime behavior to leathery-regime behavior; this consequently
Fig. 14 illustrates how the modulus of elasticity of the polyurea
contributed to the changing yield. Similar observations have also
880 H. Wang et al. / Defence Technology 15 (2019) 875e884
Fig. 12. Compression stress-strain curves for various strain rates.
varies according to the strain rate. In low and intermediate strain
rate regions ranging from 100 to 200 MPa, the modulus of
Fig. 13. Yield stress as a function of the logarithm of the strain rate.
Fig. 14. Modulus of elasticity of the polyurea for various strain rates.
elasticity was observed to linearly increase as the logarithm of the
strain rate increased, exhibiting dramatic increases (up to 2 GPa) at
high strain rates. This finding suggests that the initial stiffness of
the material was enhanced at higher strain rates. Alternatively, the
tangent modulus derived from the highly elastic stage of the
compression or tensile stress-strain curves was generally consis-
tent for low and intermediate strain rates (20e27 MPa in
compression and 26e35 MPa in tension); however, its value
increased to 120 MPa, which is nearly a six-fold increase, when the
strain rate was high (Fig. 15). In particular, because the failure
strain in uniaxial tension is larger than that tested in uniaxial
compression, the tensile strain-hardening effect is more pro-
nounced, and the tangent modulus in tension is slightly higher
than that in compression.
4. Constitutive model
4.1. Modified RDMR model
The MR model is a classical hyperelastic material model that
is available to model the nonlinear behavior of elastomeric
materials that is associated with large strain. As the simple
constitutive equation and its parameters can be relatively easily
determined via experimentation, the MR model has been widely
used in many studies and encoded in some commercial finite
Fig. 15. Tangent modulus of the polyurea for various strain rates.
 H. Wang et al. / Defence Technology 15 (2019) 875e884
element software, e.g., ANSYS. However, the original MR model
is independent of strain rate, and as the materials would un-
dergo rapid plastic deformation during an explosion or impact
loading, the influence of strain rate on the mechanical proper-
ties of materials need to be considered in this constitutive
model.
In continuum mechanics, the deformation of a rubber-like ma-
terial is assumed to be a uniform deformation of an isotropic super
elastomer. The strain energy of material can be expressed as a
function of an invariant of the left Cauchy-Green deformation
tensor. For an incompressible MR material, the most common strain
energy function, which was proposed by Rivlin [16] in 1951, is as
follows:
X
∞ 
W¼ cij ðI1
3Þi ðI2
3Þj (5)
i;j¼0
There are many forms of expansions for the above formula, with
two, five, and nine expansions being most commonly imple-
        
W ¼ j I 1 ; I 2 ; J ¼ c10 I 1
3 þ c01 I 2
3 þ c11 I1
3 I 2
3 þ
 2  2  2    
c20 I 1
3 þ c02 I 2
3 þ c21 I 1
3 I 2
3 þ c12 I 1
3 I 2
3 þ
 3  3
c30 I 1
3 þ c03 I2
3 þ DðJ
1Þ2
mented. In this study, a strain energy function with nine material
constants was adopted.
where D and cij are the material constants, I1 and I2 are the two
invariants of the left Cauchy-Green deformation tensor, which can
be expressed as
.

2=3
I1 ¼ J I1 ; I1 ¼ l21 þ l22 þ l23 (7)
. from the figure, the fitting curves agree quite well with the
I 2 ¼ J
4=3 I2 ; I2 ¼ l1 l2 þ l2 l3 þ l1 l3
2 2 2 2 2 2
(8)
where li¼1,2,3 ¼ 1þεE is the stretch ratio in the primary direction, εE
is the engineering strain in the loading direction. In consideration
of the incompressible material assumption, J ¼ 1. When the mate-
rial is subjected to uniaxial loading, l2 ¼ l3 ¼ l
1/2
1 and l1 ¼ l.
The Cauchy (true) stress can be expressed by using the first and
second deformation tensor invariants, as follows:
  
1 vj 1 vj
s ¼ 2 l2
þ (9)
l vI1 l vI2
In order to consider the strain rate effect in the constitutive
model, Mohotti [9] proposed a rate-dependent MR (RDMR) model
by adding a rate-dependent component to the strain energy func-
tion. Consequently, the RDMR model predictions were found to be
in agreement with the corresponding experimental results for
varying strain rates within the range of 20e400 s
1. Analysis and
fitting of the stress-strain curves derived as based on the results of
the experiments carried out in this study indicated that the RDMR
model is only applicable in the low and intermediate strain rate
regions, as it results in large error when it incorporates the high
strain-rate experimental data. To resolve this problem, the strain
rate correlation factor was defined as a function of the standardized
strain rate for a wide range of strain rates; it can be expressed as
881
 
m ¼ m ln_ε* (10)
where m is the strain rate correlation factor, and ln_ε* is the stan-
dardized strain rate, which is defined as
ln_ε* ¼ lnð_εT =_ε0 Þ (11)
where ε_ T is the current strain rate, and ε_ 0 is the reference strain
rate.
The strain energy function (Eq. (6)) and stress (Eq. (9)) were
respectively derived as follows:
   
W ¼ j I 1 ; I 2 m ln_ε* (12)
 
1 vj 1 vj  * 
s ¼ 2 l2
þ m ln_ε (13)
l vI1 l vI2
The above equations represent the modified RDMR model pro-
posed in this paper. The strain rate correlation factor function was
2
(6)
determined as based on the experimental tension and compression
test results for various strain rates. The derivation and parameter
calibration methods are presented in the next section.
4.2. Parameter fitting
To validate the nine-parameter MR model (Eq. (6)) for different
strain rates, the stretch ratio-strain energy density curves and
experimental data were compared, as is shown in Fig. 16; the cor-
responding fitting parameters are given in Table 3. As can be seen
experiment data, indicating that the nine-parameter MR strain
energy function can accurately describe the nonlinear mechanical
response of polyurea at individual strain rate. Note that these pa-
rameters are only reliable under the condition that the strain rate is
unchanged throughout the deformation process.
Because strain energy is not a uniform function of strain, the
modified RDMR model parameters determined via the compres-
sion and tensile stress-strain curves are different. The strain rate
correlation factor for compression tests was determined as follows.
The parameter values for the nine-parameter MR model were ob-
tained for the reference strain rate of 0.01 s
1, and are listed in
Table 4. The value of the base stretch ratio was set as l0 ¼ 0.6. The
strain rate correlation factor values are shown in Fig. 17 for various
strain rates; this figure indicates that polyurea has good energy
absorption capacity at high strain rates. Moreover, it is clear from
Fig. 17 that the relationship between the strain rate correlation
factor and standardized strain rate is not linear over the range of
strain rates employed in this study. Based on the variation trend
presented and the analysis performed, the following bilinear form
was used to fit the relationship:
 
m ¼ a ln ε_ * þ c (14)
where a and c are coefficients. The calculated values, which are
provided in Table 5, were obtained from the compression test.
882 H. Wang et al. / Defence Technology 15 (2019) 875e884

Table 4
Nine-parameter MR model parameter values derived from compression test results.

Material parameters/MPa, Reference strain rate:0.01/s
1

c10 c01 c11 c20 c02 c21 c12 c30 c03

304.7 329 71
5404.9 4201.4 39283
22686
27394 4421.7

Fig. 17. Strain rate correlation factor as a function of the standardized strain rate.

Table 5
Coefficients a and c derived from compression test results.

Strain rate range (s
1) a c

10
3 < ε_ < 2000 0.06 1

2000 < ε_ < 8000 1.39 15.36

The true stress-strain curves predicted by the modified RDMR

model were compared to the experimental results, as is illustrated
in Fig. 18. It can be seen that the prediction of the true stress agrees
well with the experimental results for most of the true strain rates;
this indicates that the modified RDMR model has the potential
describe the mechanical properties of polyurea under compression
for a relatively wide range of strain rates. However, at high strain
rates, the predicted values are less than the experimental values at
the linear-elastic stage, as is illustrated in Fig. 18(c). This discrep-
ancy is due to the fact that, when the strain rate is relatively high,
increases of the stress range value in the linear-elastic stage are
significantly larger than those observed after the material has
entered the yield stage.
For tensile testing validation, a reference strain rate of 0.01 s
1
and a base stretch ratio of 1.6 were implemented. As previously
mentioned, Table 3 lists the parameters of the nine-parameter MR
model that were derived from the tensile stress-strain curves. The
coefficients a and c, which were derived as based on the tension
test results, are listed in Table 6. The comparison between model
predictions and experimental date is shown in Fig. 19. The model
predictions agree well with the experimental results.

Fig. 16. Comparison of the nine-parameter MR model and experimental data.

Table 3
Nine-parameter MR model parameter values derived from tension test results.

Strain rate/s
1 Material parameters/MPa

c10 c01 c11 c20 c02 c21 c12 c30 c03

0.01 22.7
0.1
466.8 608.8
291.5
169.2 287.3 23.3
555.3
0.1
355.2 402.4
981.7 180.1 1082.6 40.7
159.2
5.2 306.6
1
243.9 297.9
1971.3 2081.7
204.4
6970.0 12004.8 1343.3
8375.2
 H. Wang et al. / Defence Technology 15 (2019) 875e884 883

Table 6
Coefficients a and c derived from tension test results.

Strain rate range (s
1) a C

10
2 < ε_ < 100 0.12 0.94

Fig. 19. Comparison between modified RDMR model predictions and experimental
data obtained from tensile testing.

5. Conclusion

Uniaxial compression and tension testing was used to investi-

gate the dynamic mechanical properties of polyurea XS-350 for
strain rates ranging from 0.001 to 7000 s
1. In this study, we
quantified the stress-strain relationship of polyurea, and analyzed
the effects of strain rate on the yield strength, modulus of elasticity,
and tangent modulus. A modified RDMR model was proposed to
describe the mechanical properties of polyurea for different strain
rates. The main conclusions are as follows:

(1) The stress-strain curve of polyurea XS-350 exhibits distinct

nonlinear characteristics, and can be divided into the
following three regions: an initial linear-elastic stage, a
highly elastic stage, and an approximate linear region that
terminates in fracture.
(2) When polyurea XS-350 is subjected to dynamic loading, the
influence of the strain rate is significant; specifically, with the
increase of the strain rate, the yield stress and modulus of
elasticity increase, while the yield strain decreases. Also
during this time, polyurea transitions from rubbery-regime
behavior to leathery-regime behavior.
(3) A modified rate-dependent constitutive model was devel-
oped as based on the nine-parameter MR model; the pro-
posed model can better predict the mechanical properties of
polyurea under low, intermediate, and high strain rates.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the Provincial Basic

Research Program of China(NO. 2016209A003, NO$2016602B003).
Fig. 18. Comparison between the modified RDMR model predictions and results of
compression testing: (a) Low strain rate, (b) Intermediate strain rate, and (c) High
strain rate. References

[1] Yi J, Boyce MC, Lee GF, Balizer E. Large deformation rate-dependent stress-
strain behavior of polyurea and polyurethanes. Polymer 2006;47(1):319e29.
[2] Sarva SS, Deschanel S, Boyce MC, Chen WN. Stress-strain behavior of a
884 H. Wang et al. / Defence Technology 15 (2019) 875e884
polyurea and a polyurethane from low to high strain rates. Polymer
2007;48(8):2208e13.
[3] Roland CM, Twigg JN, Vu Y, Mott PH. High strain rate mechanical behavior of
polyurea. Polymer 2007;48(2):574e8.
[4] Pathak JA, Twigg JN, Nugent KE, Ho DL, Lin EK, Mott PH, et al. Structure
evolution in a polyurea segmented block copolymer because of mechanical
deformation. Macromolecules 2008;41(20):7543e8.
[5] Shim J, Mohr D. Using split Hopkinson pressure bars to perform large strain
compression tests on polyurea at low, intermediate and high strain rates. Int J
Impact Eng 2009;36(9):1116e27.
[6] Shim J, Mohr D. Rate dependent finite strain constitutive model of polyurea.
Int J Plast 2011;27(6):868e86.
[7] Amirkhizi AV, Isaacs J, McGee J, Nemat-Nasser S. An experimentally-based
viscoelastic constitutive model for polyurea, including pressure and temper-
ature effects. Phil Mag 2006;86(36):5847e66.
[8] Raman SN, Ngo T, Lu J, Mendis P. Experimental investigation on the tensile
behavior of polyurea at high strain rates. Mater Des 2013;50:124e9.
[9] Mohotti D, Ali M, Ngo T, Lu JH, Mendis P. Strain rate dependent constitutive
model for predicting the material behaviour of polyurea under high strain rate
tensile loading. Mater Des 2014;53:830e7.
[10] Guo H, Guo WG, Amirkhizi AV, Zou RL, Yuan KB. Experimental investigation
and modeling of mechanical behaviors of polyurea over wide ranges of strain
rates and temperatures. Polym Test 2016;53:234e44.
[11] Guo H, Guo WG, Amirkhizi AV. Constitutive modeling of the tensile and
compressive deformation behavior of polyurea over a wide range of strain
rates. Constr Build Mater 2017;150:851e9.
[12] Zhang X, Wang J, Guo W, Zou R. A bilinear constitutive response for polyureas
as a function of temperature, strain rate and pressure. J Appl Polym Sci
2017;134(35).
[13] Institution BS. ISO 37. Rubber, vulcanized or thermoplastic. Determination of
tensile stress-strain properties. International Organization; 2005.
[14] Institution BS. ISO 23529 Rubber -General procedures for preparing and
conditioning test pieces for physical test methods. International Organization;
2016.
[15] W.W. Chen, B. Song, Split Hopkinson (Kolsky) bar: design, testing and appli-
cations, Springer Science & Business Media 2010.
[16] Rivlin RS. Large elastic deformations of isotropic materials. I. Fundamental
concepts. Phil Trans Roy Soc Lond 1997;240(822):459e90.