Composites with impact absorption ability based on shear thickening fluids and auxetic foams
Paulina Nakonieczna, Łukasz Wierzbicki, Beata Śladowska, Marcin Leonowicz, Janusz Lisiecki, Dominik Nowakowski
Quarterly No. 2, 2017 pages 67-72
DOI:
keywords: shear thickening fluid, auxetic foams, force absorbing systems, rheological properties
abstract The issue of energy absorption during impact is present in various aspects of life. The possibility of dissipating unwanted energy gives huge opportunities for a variety applications such as helmets, car bumpers, smart body armours and protective pads. Nevertheless, there are numerous technical problems with achieving a compromise between good energy absorption efficiency and other important properties such as flexibility, weight and thickness. The article describes a study of composite structures based on shear thickening fluids (STF) and auxetic foams. The composites are developed as a potential component of products with high energy absorbing efficiency. The study reports on the rheological behavior of STF and force absorbing properties of the manufactured composites. In the experiment, two types of STF and eleven types of auxetic foams were used. Force absorbing tests for the produced samples were performed by dropping an impactor with the energy of 5 J. It was proved that the addition of STF to the auxetic foams increases the force absorbing efficiency.