JHU-CREATED MATERIAL COULD MAKE NEXT-GEN HELMETS, BUMPERS

Johns Hopkins University ^ | March 10, 2022 | Jason Lucas

[Red Badger]

The lightweight, foam-like material could reduce fuel consumption in vehicles and make protective gear more comfortable

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A team of Johns Hopkins University researchers created shock-absorbing material that protects like a metal, but is lighter, stronger, and reusable. The new foam-like material could be a game-changer for helmets, body armor, and automobile and aerospace parts.

"We are excited about our findings on the extreme energy absorption capability of the new material," said senior author Sung Hoon Kang, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. "The material offers more protection from a wide range of impacts, but being lighter could reduce fuel consumption and the environmental impact of vehicles while being more comfortable for protective gear wearers."

Kang, who is also a fellow at the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, wanted to create a material even more energy-absorbing than current car bumpers and helmet padding. He noticed the typical materials used for these critical protective devices don't perform well at higher speeds and often aren't reusable.

The research team increased the material's ability to withstand impact by using high energy-absorbing liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), which have been used mainly in actuators and robotics.

During experiments to test the material's ability to withstand impact, it held up against strikes from objects weighing about four to 15 pounds, coming at speeds of up to about 22 miles per hour. The tests were limited to 22 miles per hour due to limits of the testing machines, but the team is confident the padding could safely absorb even greater impacts.

Kang and his team are exploring a collaboration with a helmet company to design, fabricate, and test next-generation helmets for athletes and the military.

The results appeared in the journal Advanced Materials.:

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/adma.202200272

The research is supported in part by funding from the Army Research Office and the Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering Start-Up Fund. The Johns Hopkins research team also included Lichen Fang, a former graduate student; Thao (Vicky) Nguyen, a professor of mechanical engineering; Beijun Shen, a graduate student; Seung-Yeol Jeon, a former postdoctoral researcher at the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute; and Zeyu Zhu, a former graduate student; and Nicholas A. Traugutt, and Christopher M. Yakacki, both of the University of Colorado Denver.

[Red Badger]

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[Red Badger]

Ping!...............

[Red Badger]

Ping!........................

[Red Badger]

Motorcycle Ping?......................

[PeterPrinciple]

But it is plastic and it is going to cause global warming and racism.....................

[Red Badger]

And it’s white........................

[MercyFlush]

China will steal this tech before lunch today.

[HighSierra5]

Looks like Swiss cheese. Now I’m getting hungry.

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

Let’s hope she’s Korean, not Chinese. Otherwise, China will get the inside technical stuff and churn it out next uear.

[Scram1]

Sounds to be the material of choice for all wood pecker wannabees pulling G forces too.

[RayChuang88]

That’s if somebody at a major university in China didn’t figure it out already. China is looking for similar lightweight materials for their future EV behicles to compensate for the heavy battery packs.

[rlmorel]

Looks pretty cool!

[Red Badger]

Aircraft fuselages and wings, automobile. truck / motorcycle body parts, dashboards & seats, any place that weight savings is a boon...................

[Larry Lucido]

[Vigilanteman]

Some great things come out of JHU. Dr. Ben Carson and now this. Not bad for a university surrounded by some of the sleaziest neighborhoods in one of the sleaziest cities in the United States.

[rlmorel]

Agreed. I will say, out of the names of those involved, I saw one that looked Vietnamese, and all the rest looked Chinese.

Could be me, but I see that as a problem nowadays.

[Rebelbase]

Helloooooo!

[T.B. Yoits]

It appears to have potential but also looks brittle and like it's a "one and done" material. Kind of like a bulletproof vest. Helmets and bumpers in particular face both accumulations of energy from smaller hits as well as significant impacts.

It also looks like it may require Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) such as x-rays to confirm it hasn't been compromised. (Although it also looks like it could have dyes in the lattice which would leak out when compromised).

[Vigilanteman]

You’d have to delve deeper. Singapore (70% ethnic Chinese) and Taiwan (98%) are two of the most pro-American countries on the planet.