Austenitic stainless steel, the most commonly used stainless steel, provides a good combination of corrosion resistance, weldability, forming and fabrication properties, and has broad application prospects in engineering structures. Engineering structures using austenitic stainless steel are at risk of seismic, impact or blast loading throughout their life-cycle. In this paper, the dynamic mechanical properties of two kinds of austenitic stainless steels (S30408 and S31608, known as 1.4301 and 1.4401 in EN10088:1, 304 and 316 in ASTM standard) were experimentally studied. Firstly, the quasi-static and dynamic stress-strain curves of S30408 and S31608 at low, medium (10(0)-10(2) s(-1)) and high strain rates (10(2)-10(4) s(-1)) were obtained by universal electromechanical testing machine, servo-hydraulic high-speed tensile testing machine and split Hopkinson tensile bars (SHTB), respectively. And then, based on the obtained quasi-static and dynamic stress-strain curves, the strain rate effect of strength and plasticity for S30408 and S31608 was analyzed and compared. The test results indicate that the strength of both two austenitic stainless steels shows strain rate effect, and the strain rate effect of strength for S30408 is more significant than that of S31608; however, the plasticity indexes of S31608 is better than that of S30408. Finally, the constitutive models parameters for the commonly used Cowper-Symonds and Johnson Cook models were identified by curve-fitted method, and the corresponding material strain rate enhancement coefficient was also revised. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.