Abstract
Numerous engineering applications require lightweight structures with excellent absorption capacity. The problem of obtaining such structures may be solved by nature and especially biological structures with such properties. The paper concerns an attempt to develop a new energy-absorbing material using a biomimetic approach. The lightweight structure investigated here is mimicking geometry of diatom shells, which are known to be optimized by nature in terms of the resistance to mechanical loading. The structures mimicking frustule of diatoms, retaining the similarity with the natural shell, were 3D printed and subjected to compression tests. As required, the bio-inspired structure deformed continuously with the increase in deformation force. Finite element analysis (FEA) was carried out to gain insight into the mechanism of damage of the samples mimicking diatoms shells. The experimental results showed a good agreement with the numerical results. The results are discussed in the context of further investigations which need to be conducted as well as possible applications in the energy absorbing structures.
Highlights
Nowadays, light materials are of high interest almost in every branch of industry
In order to understand the effect of the foam core on the interaction and the energy absorption of foam-filled tubes, have conducted compressive tests of tubes filled with various cell sizes of Al foams [12]
According to the literature [37], there are several mechanisms of energy absorption, which depend on the used material: elastomeric foams, plastic or brittle foams, natural, cellular materials or fluid within cells
Summary
Light materials are of high interest almost in every branch of industry. Examples of extensively researched materials of light specific weight include high closed porosity foams and open porosity percolated structures. A relatively new research line emerging recently is focused on filling out load-bearing elements with light constructs of specific morphology—see for example [7,8,9,10,11,12]. The direction of these experiment is strictly related to their (materials and structures) energyabsorption properties. The conducted research shows that filling materials in, e.g., aluminum tubes, could effectively improve the deformation as well as absorption capacity of such structures
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