https://techxplore.com/news/2021-07-reu ... r-lab.html
by Cory Nealon, University at Buffalo
University at Buffalo engineers are reporting a new energy dissipation device that they say could have far-reaching applications in transportation safety.
Described in the International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, the device utilizes low-cost metallic materials and a simple design. Unlike conventional sacrificial structural components like car bumpers, it's designed to be reused after impact.
"Most energy absorbers carrying high stiffness work by crushing or collapsing upon impact. This reduces physical damage to the vehicle, or whatever the absorbers are protecting, but it requires the replacement of internal and external parts following the collision," says the study's senior author, Jongmin Shim, Ph.D., associate professor of structural engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.