Smart material and design solutions for protective headgears in linear and oblique impacts: column/matrix composite liner to mitigate rotational accelerations

Abstract Oblique impact is the most common situation that cyclists experience during traffic accidents which human head undergoes both linear and rotational (angular) accelerations. Angular acceleration of known to be linked majority traumatic brain injuries. This paper proposes various solutions mitigate angular accelerations an anisotropic column/matrix composite foam design effective. smart allows tailor-made adjustment shear compressive resistance liner. Regarding helmet shells, tough fiber-reinforced materials such as self-reinforced polypropylene (PP) (Curv ® ) silk/high-density polyethylene (HDPE) were benchmarked against conventional brittle polycarbonate (PC). Results demonstrate superior performance silk/HDPE compared PC in resisting perforation localized involving sharp objects. liner, two configurations studied particularly, a multi-layered design. Their efficacy was single-layer homogenous expanded polystyrene (EPS) equivalent weight thickness oblique using experimental finite element methods. The results showed behavior configuration. Such could combined with other systems multi-directional protection system (MIPS) technology for possible synergy enhanced protection.