An impact loading simulation of Rubber-Toughened Poly Methyl Methacrylate (RT-PMMA) using Abaqus Explicit

Abstract

Experimental studies proved that the rubber particles incorporated in the rubber toughened PMMA (RT-PMMA) affect the toughening mechanism in energy dissipation during impact loading being applied onto it. This helps to improve the ductility of the PMMA. However, limited number of research for numerical simulation studies of RT-PMMA under impact loading were found especially regarding stress wave analysis in dynamic loading. This study aims to identify a suitable impact model for RT-PMMA 65 and RT-PMMA 100 under impact loading using Abaqus Explicit software and the result was then validated qualitatively with the experimental from published manuscript. Extended Drucker Prager model was defined for RT-PMMA under impact loading at three different impact velocities and they were succesfully simulated the existing experimental data and the stress wave analysis was discussed in details. This achieved the aim of this research which aims to use numerical simulation to serve as a tool to optimize experimental studies which requires time and effort consuming.

Keywords

• RT-PMMA
• Brittle fracture
• Crack propagation
• Stress wave
• Impact loading