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The present study is part of an ongoing research program of BAM in the field of fracturemechanics and component safety. This programme is focused on the systematic mechanicaland fracture mechanical characterization of ductile cast iron materials (DCI) under dynamicloading conditions and the improvement of the relevant testing methods. The investigationspresented here started with systematic work concentrating on details of the dynamic tensiletest method, like specimen instrumentation, measurement of load, optical and strain-gagemeasurement of strain and data analysis. Resulting from this, an optimized testing methodhas been established for dynamic tensile tests on DCI materials. First results of systematicinvestigations on mechanical material properties of DCI under dynamic loading conditionsare reported. Characteristics for the dynamic strength and deformation behaviour arediscussed in dependence on the parameters pearlite content of the DCI matrix, testtemperature and strain-rate. Furthermore, the effect of these influences on the dynamic truestress-strain curves is pointed out.