Luffa sponge is a light-weight natural material which has the potential to be used as an alternative
sustainable material for various engineering applications such as packaging, acoustic and vibration
isolation, and impact energy absorption. The strain rate effect is an important material property for such
applications. In the present study, compressive tests at different strain rates on luffa sponge material
were conducted over a wide density range from 24 to 64 kg m3. A photographic technique was applied
to measure the sectional area which has an irregular shape. The stressestrain curves of luffa sponge
material at various strain rates were calculated based on this measurement. When the dynamic data are
compared with those of quasi-static experiments, it is found that the compressive strength, plateau
stress and specific energy absorption of the luffa sponge material are all sensitive to the rate of loading. It
is also found that the dynamic enhancement for the compressive strength was more prominent than that
for the plateau stress. The underlying mechanism was discussed and clarified. Empirical formulae were
proposed for the macroscopic strength, densification strain and specific energy absorption at various
strain rates. A comparison study shows that the luffa sponge has better energy absorption capacity per
unit mass than other cellular materials with similar plateau stress at various strain rates.