How can shock-absorbing materials be enhanced to improve safety and efficiency? This is what a recent study published in Nature Communications hopes to address as a team of researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison developed a novel foam pad that absorbs shock more effectively than existing models. This study has the potential to help scientists and engineers develop more efficient shock-absorbing materials whose applications could range from helmets to landing gear.
For the study, the researchers used a combination of equations, computer models, and laboratory experiments to evaluate how altering mechanical properties of foam pads could influence the shock-absorbing properties and gauge the mechanical energy while reducing the level of impact. In the end, the researchers found that their new foam pads exhibited a new kind of behavior known as nonlinear stress-strain response, meaning the impact energy levels change. This differs from longstanding shock-absorbers that typically maintain the same level of stress throughout the impact.
“This work shows foams that have been traditionally considered as ‘ideal absorbers’ aren’t always the best,” said Dr. Ramathasan Thevamaran, who is a Bernard A. and Frances M. Weideman Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a co-author on the study. “We show foams with a nonlinear response can in fact offer a broader design space, especially when a compact pad design is required. Notably, these findings are very general and applicable to a wide range of material systems, including metamaterials.”
As noted, shock-absorbing technology has a variety of commercial and industrial applications, including sports helmets and landing gear. They are especially useful for football due to the high-contact nature and the risk of concussions. The landing gear aspect can be used on not just aircraft but spacecraft, too.
How will this new shock-absorbing material help improve impacts in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Nature Communications, EurekAlert!
