Development of Motorcycle helmet for pre-school Children Using Metal Foam

Abstract

Thailand is second in the road fatality rankings published by World Health Organization in 2015. Almost 80% of traffic deaths involves motorcycles and many of the passengers are children. However, there are still no appropriate head protection equipment for small child pillions. The child helmet should also be lightweight and have high energy absorption. This paper aims to develop a child helmet by using metal foam. The impact tests of the smallest size commercial motorcycle helmet were performed in TIS 369-2557 standard. The finite element model of an existing child helmet was developed and employed to simulate the helmet impact tests using both rigid dummy head and deformable child head. The helmet model was validated with experimental tests to obtain the baseline model. Good agreements can be observed. In addition, the deformable child head can give detail information of brain injury experience by the child during impact. The existing helmet model was redesigned with aluminium foam and was compared with the baseline model after impact tests. Improvement in terms of helmet weight and head injury mitigation can be seen.