A Study on the Shock Absorption Performance of the Safety Helmet using Coefficient of Restitution

Abstract

A safety helmet is a personal protective equipment to protect the head from falling and flying objects. A safety helmet has the maximum delivered impact force as shock absorption performance, the lower delivered impact force the better performance, which was not a controlled variety during manufacturing safety helmet. Accordingly there were some difficulties in establishing the standard for improved performance as there was not a clear controllable impact force for improved performance. In this study the shock absorption performance was intended to be found as coefficient of restitution related to impulse. As a research method, a coefficient of restitution during the absorption of shock was calculated using the impulse transferred to pharynx utilizing the safety helmet shock absorption performance testing device based on the theory of momentum and impulse. The estimated impulsive force curve was derived assuming that shock was not absorbed using the measured data. The sample was selected as tested goods of ABS material for safety certification available mainly in the market. As a result of study, the maximum delivered impact force of safety helmet made by a domestic safety certified a company was 735 N, and its coefficient of restitution proved to be 0.64. The smaller coefficient of restitution is, the lower maximum delivered impact force and the higher shock absorption performance. The coefficient of restitution can be used as a performance index of safety helmet.