Regular Article

Determination of energy absorption in different cellular auxetic structures

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Lorestan, Iran
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mahshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mahshahr, Iran
³ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy
⁴ Department of Civil Engineering, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Lorestan, Iran

^* e-mails: hatami.h@lu.ac.ir; h64hatami@gmail.com

Received: 20 May 2018
Accepted: 15 March 2019

Abstract

This paper deals with the effect of unit cell configuration on the energy absorption response of different cellular auxetic structures subjected to quasi-static and dynamic loadings through the experimental and numerical methods. Among the various structures, a re-entrant structure was selected due to its fundamental properties underlying the main characteristics of an auxetic material. Computer simulation techniques using ABAQUS software validated by experimental testing were used to conduct the evaluation of such devices. Several re-entrant structures with different geometrical parameters were modeled and compared with the conventional ones. Standard compression tests were carried out on the different structures produced by the 3D printing machine to evaluate the influence of auxeticity phenomenon in the energy absorption capability. It is discovered that the auxetic structures are superior to non-auxetic structures in terms of all studied impact resistance and energy absorption indicators due to their ability to withstand quasi-static axial impact loads. The primary outcome of this research is to extract design information for the use of auxetic materials as energy absorbers where quasi-static loading is expected.