Polymers are frequently used in applications in which they may be exposed to high rate or impact loading, and there is growing industrial importance in understanding their mechanical behavior at different strain rates. An important aspect of this is the temperature rise due to adiabatic conditions in high rate loading. This paper describes research that has been performed to measure the temperature rise that occurs in specimens undergoing rapid deformation. A novel thermocouple design is presented and applied to PMMA and 20 wt% DINP-plasticized PVC, deformed at moderate and high strain rates. The measurements are accompanied by investigations of strain energy. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.