ABSTRACT
The mechanical behaviour of materials is principally dependent on the type of loading and the duration of application of these loads on structural members. These, in turn, aid to describe the strain rates to which the materials are subjected. The present review study focuses on understanding the different failure mechanisms involved with the strain rate dependency on metals, composites and polymers in various strain rate regimes. The lucid distinction in the experimental setup for high strain rates and low strain rates is discussed. The strain rate sensitivity of the materials along with the strain hardening and its influence on the microstructure play a key role in the mechanical properties and are well deduced from the literature. The parameters such as strength and ductility and their corresponding variation at all three strain rate regimes are detailed for different materials such as metals, various fibre-reinforced polymer composites and polymers.
