Abstract: To investigate the tensile properties of PE-HD， PU and EPDM， axial tensile tests were conducted to obtain their stress-strain curves at different strain rates. The results indicated that PE-HD exhibited favorable ductility with large plastic deformation during the tests， whereas PU presented an elastic nature. On the other hand， EPDM as a type of viscoelastic material showed an evident time-dependency of deformation recovery performance. The yield strength and tensile modulus of PE-HD increased significantly with an increase in strain rate but its strain at yield strength decreased. PE-HD obtained an increase in yield strength by 23.4 % and in tensile modulus by 40.4 % when the strain rate increased from 0.01 s-1 to 1.0 s-1. The tensile modulus and elongation at break of PU were significantly influenced by strain rate； however， there was little influence of strain rate on its tensile strength. Compared to the tensile modulus and elongation at break obtained at a strain rate of 0.01 s-1， PU exhibited an increase in tensile modulus by 39.1 % but a decrease in elongation at break by 55.2 % at a strain rate of 1.0 s-1. With increasing the strain rate， the tensile strength and tensile modulus of EPDM increased but its elongation at break decreased. When the strain rate increased from 0.01 s-1 to 1.0 s-1， the tensile strength and tensile modulus of EPDM increased by 19.9 % and 16.5 %， respectively.

Key words: carbon fiber-reinforced polymer, cable, impact protection material, strain rate effect, axial tensile property, constitutive mode