Efficient energy absorption of functionally-graded metallic foam-filled tubes under impact loading

The deformation behavior and crashworthiness of functionally-graded foam-filled tubes(FGFTs)under drop-weight impact loading were investigated.Closed cell aluminum,A356 alloy and zinc foams fabricated by the liquid state processing were used as axial grading fillers for the manufacture of single-layer and multilayer structures with different configurations.The results indicate that the deformation of multilayer foam filled tubes initiates from the low-strength components,and then propagates in the high-strength components through the gradual increment of stress.The use of more A356 alloy and aluminum foam layers provides greater specific energy absorption(SEA)for the graded structures,whereas the high-strength zinc foam has no positive effect on the crash performance.The progressive collapse of graded structures consisting of the aluminum and A356 alloy foams occurs in a symmetric mode under quasi-static and drop-weight impact conditions.However,the zinc foam causes a combination of symmetric and extension modes as well as greater localized deformation under dynamic loading and greater local rupture in quasi-static loading condition.The Al−A356 foam-filled tubes with a combination of the highest SEA(10 J/g)and the lowest initial peak stress(σmax of 10.2 MPa)are considered as the best lightweight crashworthy structures.

Optimization Design of an Embedded Multi-Cell Thin-Walled Energy Absorption Structures with Local Surface Nanocrystallization

Bymeans of the local surface nanocrystallization that enables to change the material on local positions,an innovative embedded multi-cell(EMC)thin-walled energy absorption structures with local surface nanocrystallization is proposed in this paper.The local surface nanacrystallization stripes are regarded as the moving morphable components in the domain for optimal design.Results reveal that after optimizing the local surface nanocrystallization layout,the specific energy absorption(SEA)is increased by 50.78%compared with the untreated counterpart.Besides,in contrast with the optimized 4-cell structure,the SEA of the nanocrystallized embedded 9-cell structure is further enhanced by 27.68%,in contrast with the 9-cell structure,the SEA of the nanocrystallized embedded clapboard type 9-cell structure is enhanced by 3.61%.Thismethod provides a guidance for the design of newenergy absorption devices.

Ballistic Penetration Damage of Hybrid Thermoplastic Composites Reinforced with Kevlar and UHMWPE Fabrics

Polymer matrix types of fiber hybrid composites are key factors to improve ballistic impact damage tolerances.Here we report ballistic penetration damages of Kevlar/ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene(UHMWPE)hybrid composites with thermoplastic polyurethane(PU)matrix.The hybrid composites were penetrated by fragment-simulating projectiles(FSPs)using an air gun impact system.The effects of stacking sequences on the ballistic performance of hybrid composites were analyzed.Two types of specific energy absorption(the energy absorption per unit area density and the energy absorption per unit thickness)were investigated.It was found that the main damage modes of PU hybrid composites were fiber breakage,matrix damage,fiber pullout and interlayer delamination.The instantaneous deformation could not be used as a reference index for evaluating the ballistic performance of the target plate.The energy absorption process of the PU hybrid composites showed a nonlinear pattern.The hybrid structure affected the specific energy absorption of the materials.

Design and 3D Printing of Graded Bionic Metamaterial Inspired by Pomelo Peel for High Energy Absorption

Light-weight,high-strength metamaterials with excellent specific energy absorption(SEA)capabilities are sig-nificant for aerospace and automobile.The SEA of metamaterials largely depends on the material and structural design.Herein,inspired by the superior impact resistance of pomelo peel for protecting the pulp and the elevated SEA ability of a functionally graded structure,a graded bionic polyhedron metamaterial(GBPM)was designed and realized by 3D printing using a soft material(photosensitive resin)and a hard material(Ti-6Al-4V).Guided by compression tests and numerical simulations,the elevated SEA ability was independent of the materials.The fluctuation region appeared in hard-material-fabricated bionic polyhedron metamaterial(BPMs)and was absent in soft-material-fabricated BPMs in the stress-strain curves,resulting in the growth rate of the SEA value of the soft-material-fabricated GBPM being enhanced by 5.9 times compared with that of the hard-material-fabricated GBPM.The SEA values of soft-and hard-material-fabricated GBPM were 1.89 and 44.16 J/g,which exceed those of most soft-and hard-material-fabricated metamaterials reported in previous studies.These findings can guide the design of metamaterials with high energy absorption to resist external impacts.

Ballistic impact simulation of Kevlar-129 fiber reinforced composite material

The penetration resistance of Kevlar-129 fiber reinforced composite materials was investigated with AUTODYN software.The ballistic limits of the fragment that pierced 6kinds of target plates were obtained by finite element simulation when the 10 g fragment simulation projectile（FSP）impacting to the target plates of different thickness values of 8,10,12,14,16 and 18mm with appropriate velocity,respectively,and the influences of thickness on the ballistic limits and the specific energy absorption were analyzed.The results show that the ballistic limit of Kevlar-129 fiber reinforced composite plates presents linear growth with the increase of the target thickness in the range from 8to 18 mm.The specific energy absorption of plates presents approximately linear growth,but there is slightly slow growth in the range from 10 to 16mm of the target thickness.It also can be found that the influences of plate thickness and surface density on the varying pattern of specific energy absorption are almost the same.Therefore,both of them can be used to characterize the variation of specific energy absorption under the impact of the FSP fragment.

An Optimal Design of the Two-Staged Square Sectional Combined Energy Absorption Structure with Local Surface Nanocrystallization

In this paper,a local surface nanocrystallization technology is used for thin-walled structures with square cross sections,and an energy absorption device of two-staged combined energy absorption structure is proposed.In virtue of the surface nanocrystallization that enables to change the material on local positions,the structural deformation is induced and controlled to maximize the energy absorption capacity.A numerical model of the two-staged combined energy absorption structure is established,and the local surface nanocrystallization layout is optimized.The results show that the specific energy absorption of two-staged combined structure with local surface nanocrystallization can be increased by 34.36%compared with the untreated counterpart of the same material and structural shape.The ratio between the first and second peak crushing forces and the energy absorption allocation ratio between the two stages can be adjusted in the ranges of 0.26–0.55 and 0.31–0.45,respectively,which can be controlled by the local surface nanocrystallization designs.The numerical simulation and experimental results are in good agreement,which shows that the design for energy absorption device with local surface nanocrystallization is feasible and effective.

Study of Impact Resistance Based on Porcupine Quills Bionic Thin-walled Structure

Using an electron microscope to observe the microstructure of a porcupine quills cross-section and a bionic method,a new bionic structure was proposed.The performance of the structure in terms of energy absorption,maximum impact force withstood,and impact force efficiency was evaluated using Ansys finite element simulation software to simulate the structure's impact.To examine the impact of ribs on the structural performance of the bionic porcupine quills,a control structure was developed.According to the results of the finite element simulation,the presence of ribs in the Bionic porcupine quills structure can transfer stress uniformly to the overall structure and share stress for some of the rupture-prone regions.Ribs reduce stress concentration in specific areas and increase the impact force efficiency of the structure.The SEA and IFE values of bionic porcupine quills were 30.01 kJ/kg and 84.22%,respectively.The structure is then optimized for parameter design in order to find the optimal structure by response surface in order to improve the structure's SEA and decrease its MIF.In order to evaluate the precision of the response surface,the optimal structure predicted is validated using finite element simulation.