Abstract
A combination of aluminum columnar member with composite laminate to form a hybrid structure can be used as collapsible energy absorbers especially in automotive vehicular structures to protect occupants and cargo. A key advantage of aluminum member in composite is that it provides ductile and stable plastic collapse mechanisms with progressive deformation in a stable manner by increasing energy absorption during collision. This paper presents an experimental investigation on the influence of the number of hybrid epoxyglass layers in overwrap composite columnar tubes. Three columnar tube specimens were used and fabricated by hand lay-up method. Aluminum square hollow shape was combined with externally wrapped by using an isophathalic epoxy resin reinforced with glass fiber skin with an orientation angle of 0°/90°. The aluminum columnar tube was used as reference material. Crushed hybrid-composite columnar tubes were prepared using one, two, and three layers to determine the crashworthy capacity. Quasi-static crush test was conducted using INSTRON machine with an axial loading. Results showed that crush force and the number of layers were related to the enhancement of energy absorption before the collapse of columnar tubes. The energy absorption properties of the crushed hybrid-composite columnar tubes improved significantly with the addition of layers in the overwrap. Microscopic analysis on the modes of epoxy-glass fiber laminate failure was conducted by using scanning electron microscopy.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
A. Paluszny, State of the art review of automobile structural crashworthiness, Southfield, MI: American Iron and Steel Institute (1992).
P. H. E. P. J. Thornton and R. A. Jeryan, Crash energy management in composite automotive structures, International Journal of Impact Engineering, 7 (1988) 167–180.
S. Ramakrishna, Microstructural design of composite materials for crashworthy structural applications, Materials & Design, 18 (1997) 167–173.
X. Liu and S. Mahadevan, Ultimate strength failure probability estimation of composite structures, Journal of Reinforced Plastics & Composites, 19 (2000) 403–426.
I. Baran, C. C. Tutum, M. W. Nielsen and J. H. Hattel, Process induced residual stresses and distortions in pultrusion, Composites Part B: Engineering, 51 (2013) 148–161.
I. Baran, C. C. Tutum and J. H. Hattel, Reliability estimation of the pultrusion process using the first-order reliability method (FORM), Applied Composite Materials, 20 (2013) 639–653.
I. Baran, C. C. Tutum and J. H. Hattel, Probabilistic thermochemical analysis of a pultruded composite rod, Proceedings of the 15th European conference on composite materials, ECCM-15, Venice, Italy, 24–28 June (2012).
I. Baran, C. C. Tutum and J. H. Hattel, The effect of thermal contact resistance on the thermosetting pultrusion process, Composites Part B: Engineering, 45 (2013) 995–1000.
I. Baran, C. C. Tutum and J. H. Hattel, Optimization of the thermosetting pultrusion process by using hybrid and mixed integer genetic algorithms, Applied Composite Materials, 20 (2013) 449–463.
P. Paruka and W. A. Siswanto, Axial impact performance of aluminium thin cylindrical tube, Applied Mechanics and Materials, 315 (2013) 1–5.
H. C. Kim, D. K. Shin, J. J. Lee and J. B. Kwon, Crashworthiness of aluminum/CFRP square hollow section beam under axial impact loading for crash box application, Composite Structures, 112 (2014) 1–10.
D. K. Shin, H. C. Kim and J. J. Lee, Numerical analysis of the damage behavior of an aluminum/CFRP hybrid beam under three point bending, Composites Part B: Engineering, 56 (2014) 397–407.
A. H. Varma, J. M. Ricles, R. Sause and L. W. Lu, Seismic behavior and design of high-strength square concrete-filled steel tube beam columns, Journal of Structural Engineering, 130 (2) (2004) 169–179.
G. Li, M. John and D. Maricherla, Experimental study of hybrid composite beams, Construction and Building Materials, 21 (2007) 601–608.
D. Zangani, M. Robinson and A. G. Gibson, Progressive failure of composite hollow sections with foam-filled corrugated sandwich walls, Applied Composite Materials, 14 (2007) 325–342.
A. Ragalyi and P. K. Mallick, Crashworthiness of aluminum-composite hybrid crush tubes containing filamentwound over-wraps, Proceedings of SAMPE-ACCE-DOESPE Midwest Advanced Materials and Processing Conferences, Dearborn, MI (2000) 420–426.
M. Y. Huang, Y. S. Tai and H. T. Hu, Numerical study on hybrid tubes subjected to static and dynamic loading, Applied Composite Materials, 19 (2012) 1–19.
H. El-Hage, P. K. Mallick and N. Zamani, A numerical study on the quasi-static axial crush characteristics of square aluminum-composite hybrid tubes, Composite Structures, 73 (2006) 505–514.
J. Bouchet, E. Jacquelin and P. Hamelin, Dynamic axial crushing of combined composite aluminium tube: the role of both reinforcement and surface treatments, Composite Structures, 56 (2002) 87–96.
M. David, A. F. Johnson and H. Voggenreiter, Analysis of crushing response of composite crashworthy structures, Applied Composite Materials, 20 (2013) 773–787.
K. C. Shin, J. J. Lee, K. H. Kim, M. C. Song and J. S. Huh, Axial crush and bending collapse of an aluminum/GFRP hybrid square tube and its energy absorption capability, Composite Structures, 57 (2002) 279–287.
H. W. Song, Z. M. Wan, Z. M. Xie and X. W. Du, Axial impact behavior and energy absorption efficiency of composite wrapped metal tubes, International Journal of Impact Engineering, 24 (2000) 385–401.
E. H. Hanefi and T. Wierzbicki, Axial crush resistance and energy absorption of externally reinforced metal tubes, Composites: Part B, 27B (1996) 387–394.
M. A. Jimenez, E. Larrode and D. Revuelta, Effect of trigger geometry on energy absorption in composite profiles, Composite Structures, 48 (1–3) (2000) 107–111.
S. Palanivelu, W. V. Paepegem, J. Degrieck, J. V. Ackeren, D. Kakogiannis, D. V. Hemelrijck, J. Wastiels and J. Vantomme, Experimental study on the axial crushing behaviour of pultruded composite tubes, Polymer Testing, 29 (2010) 224–234.
H. Ghasemnejad, B. R. K. Blackman, H. Hadavinia and B. Sudall, Experimental studies on fracture characterizations and energy absorption of GFRP composite box structures, Composite Structures, 88 (2009) 253–261.
W. C. Hwang, K. S. Lee, Y. J. Yang and I. Y. Yang, An experimental study on the optimum collapse characteristics of composite structural member under impact loading, International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing, 12 (3) (2011) 521–526.
P. Paruka, M. K. M. Shah and M. A. Mannan, Influence of axial and oblique impact loads on crush response of square tube structures made with FRP pultruded composites, Procedia Engineering, 68 (2013) 572–578.
N. Jones, Structural impact, Paperback Edition 1997, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1989).
E. Mahdi, A. S. M. Hamouda, A. S. Mokhtar and D. L. Majid, Many aspects to improve damage tolerance of collapsible composite energy absorber devices, Composite Structures, 67 (2005)175–187.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Recommended by Associate Editor Vikas Tomar
Perowansa Paruka is a technical lecturer (Engineer) at the Department of Mechanical Engineering in Politeknik Kota Kinabalu (PKK), Sabah, Malaysia. He is currently an M.Phil. student of Mechanical Engineering at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering (Hons) in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia. His research interest is automotive computational mechanics, including FEM-based crash/impact simulation.
Waluyo Adi Siswanto is an associate professor of the faculty of mechanical and manufacturing engineering at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (2000) at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University. His research interests include computational mechanics and FEM-based simulations.
Md Abdul Maleque is an associate professor of Kuliyyah of Engineering at Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM). He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (2001) at Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. His research interests include computational mechanics, advanced composite materials, and materials for automotive and energy.
Mohd Kamal Mohd Shah is a senior lecturer of the Engineering faculty at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). He earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering (2012) at UMS, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. His research interests are computational mechanics, including advanced composite and smart materials.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Paruka, P., Siswanto, W.A., Maleque, M.A. et al. Crashworthy capacity of a hybridized epoxy-glass fiber aluminum columnar tube using repeated axial resistive force. J Mech Sci Technol 29, 1941–1953 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-015-0415-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-015-0415-4