Paper number 824

DESIGNING COMPOSITES FOR ENERGY ABSORPTION UNDER TENSILE LOADING

B. N. Cox¹, J. B. Davis¹, N. Sridhar¹, F. W. Zok², and X.-Y. Gong²

1Rockwell Science Center, 1049 Camino Dos Rios, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, U.S.A.
2Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, U.S.A.

Summary

Novel composites have been developed possessing exceptionally high capacity for energy absorption. This was accomplished by arranging the geometry of the reinforcement in such a way that the composite hardens over large strains (~100%) following the onset of damage, leading to damage delocalization. Composites have been made using steel chains and fiber tows braided or knitted into configurations possessing large strain capacity, consolidated with polymeric or metallic matrices. The energy absorbed per unit volume by the first generation of these composites varies between 15 and 60 MJ/m3, which is already very favourable compared to other candidate materials for energy absorption. The energy absorbed per unit mass ranges from about 8-13 J/g for chain composites to more than 20 J/g for fibre-reinforced composites. These are also very attractive values. By optimizing the reinforcement geometry and the matrix properties, both the chain and textile composites can be tailored to have energy absorption still several times higher.

Keywords

energy absorption, delocalization, chains, textiles.