Experimental and Numerical Study on the Energy Absorption of Polyurethane Foam-Filled Metal/Composite Hybrid Structures

Hybrid structures have the advantage of combining different types materials at same time. The trend lightweight design in transportation industry has promoted development and application composite with good crashworthiness performance. Low-density crushable foam-filled metal-composite hybrid potential advantages as energy-absorbing components. This study investigated mechanical characteristics four polyurethane their individual components under quasi-static axial compression. experimental results showed could change deformation mode improve stability during compression process. Meanwhile, these also energy absorption compared Among configurations, specimen C-PU-C (i.e., foam filler between an outer CFRP tube inner tube) had highest capacity, 5.4 kJ, specific absorption, 37.3 kJ/kg. Finally, a finite element (FE) model was established to analyze by validating simulation against results.