Energy Absorption Capacity of Prismatic Cellular Metals

There is a growing interest in developing ultra-lightweight armour for agile vehicles. The energy absorption capacity of candidate cellular materials with a range of prismatic structures has been studied while undergoing different impact velocities. The prismatic structures studied are appropriate to bullet resistant materials. Energy absorption per unit mass, and the distribution of plastic strain, has been used to assess the structures. This work was in collaboration with BAE SYSTEMS and led to a DTI: Competition of Ideas grant award (��300k).In this study the energy absorption capacity of prismatic cellular materials were examined using 2D Finite-Element (FE) simulations. The energy absorption capacity of many core topologies has been predicted under quasi-static compression. Subsequently, the dynamic impact behaviour of one of these structures, with good energy absorption characteristics, has been assessed for a range of impact velocities from 10 to 1000 m/s. As the impact speed increases, different deformation modes are noticed and the effects of stress wave propagation become more important. The importance of these studies is identified for the future development of lightweight, and impact-resistant, structured materials