The application of layered composite structural systems to protect the main structure during vehicle collisions, blast loading and other high impact applications has been a major focus of interest in the automobile industry over the last few decades. Enhancing the energy absorption, improving blast resistance and improving the dynamic fracture resistance of metallic plate structures has been the main challenges in these studies. Polyurea is a good candidate which has excellent mechanical as well as chemical properties. In the present work, a detailed study has been made on the rate sensitive response of pure form of polyurea. The experiments were carried out by Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar(SHPB) over a wide range of strain rates(1000–4500 s −1 ) to measure the stress-strain response of the material. A brief analysis has been made on the stiffness calculation & to see how stress is varying with respect to strain rate at different strains. © The Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc. 2019.