Designing the energy absorption capacity of functionally graded foam materials

By Liangchun Cui, S. Kiernan, M. Gilchrist. 2009

334 citations recorded by the source corpus.

In this paper, a functionally graded foam model is proposed in order to improve the energy absorption characteristics offered by uniform foams. In this novel model, the characteristics of the foam (e.g., density) are varied through the thickness according to various gradient functions. The energy absorption ability of the novel foam is explored by performing finite element simulations of physical impact tests on flat specimens of the functionally graded foam materials. Energy absorbing capacity with respect to parameters including gradient functions, density difference, average density, and impact energy, is explored in detail. It is illustrated that the functionally graded foam is superior in energy absorption to the uniform foam and that convex gradients perform better than concave gradients. The performance of such foams can be improved more if the density difference is enlarged. These findings provide valuable suggestions in the design of high performance energy absorption polymeric foams.

Subfields: Civil and Structural Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/4c3229cd7aa10f3562ed2813e1c61599dec09a5b

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In Civil and Structural Engineering

In Mechanical Engineering

In Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

Citations in the corpus

Effective design and simulation of surface-based lattice structures featuring volume fraction and cell type grading (2018, background): “Alternatively, functional grading can provide novel behaviour, such as layer-by-layer structural collapse [2,41] and tailorable impactor deceleration under dynamic loading [42].”
The impact response of graded foam sandwich structures (2013, methodology): “[4] proposed a functionally-graded foammodel and investigated its energy-absorbing characteristics using the finite element method.”
How does negative Poisson’s ratio of foam filler affect crashworthiness? (2015, methodology): “From the design perspective, foammaterials can be tailored into various graded forms in line with the different functional requirements [16,17].”
Dynamic crushing and energy absorption of regular, irregular and functionally graded cellular structures (2011, methodology): “Cui et al. (2009) suggested that a functionally graded foam can exhibit superior energy absorption compared to a uniform foam with equal mass.”
Compressive behaviour of 3D printed thermoplastic polyurethane honeycombs with graded densities (2019, positive): “[16] found that by applying functional grading methodologies to foam, the energy absorption properties were superior when compared to the equivalent uniform foams, at low impact energies.”
On the crashworthiness performance of thin-walled energy absorbers: Recent advances and future developments (2017, background): “Another confirmation on the better performance of FGF as energy absorption material was reported by Cui et al [219] who examined FGF with micro-scale cells that were changed continuously in a particular fashion.”
Dynamic behaviour of auxetic gradient composite hexagonal honeycombs (2016, positive): “[17] have observed that a functionally graded foam can exhibit superior energy absorption capabilities compared to a uniform foam topology layout having the same mass.”