Constitutive modelling of polycarbonate at low, moderate and high strain rates

The objective of this paper is to experimentally investigate and predict the mechanical behavior of polycarbonate over a wide range of strain rate from 10⁻⁴ to 5000 s⁻¹. Considering the influences of the glass (α) transition and the second (β) transition on the mechanical behavior of polycarbonate, a new constitutive model is proposed, and it is decomposed into the α and β components. The α component dominates the low and moderate rate deformations, and the β component is related to the high rate deformation. In comparison with the experimental results, the model can accurately predict the mechanical behavior of polycarbonate at low, moderate and high strain rates.