PERFORMANCE OF NANO-MICRO MODIFIED COMPOSITES FOR HEAD INJURY PROTECTIVE HELMET IN VEHICLE PASSIVE SAFETY

摘要

In this work, the effect of evenly mixed nano-micro inclusion on the impact resistance of composite materials and its implication on the performance Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH), which is currently being used by the U.S. military, was numerically and experimentally evaluated. The impact tests of pristine and nano-micro modified composites were performed on the Drop Weight Impact Tester at different energy levels. The impact response of ACH interacted to a vehicle structure, pillar, was investigated using ABAQUS software. Experimental results showed that the presence of nano-micro fillers improved the damage resistance of a composite material and fracture toughness through the interface. On the other hand, the numeral results revealed that the mechanical properties and fiber orientation of the composite materials influenced the performance of ACH under impact load. Use of nano-micro-GFRP ACH played a significant role in reducing Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) caused by low and medium velocity impacts. Generally, the current work could be considered as a potential solution to utilize cost-effective composite materials using nano-micro modification to achieve an equivalent performance compared with the existing well-received expensive materials used for head protection.