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Impact Behaviour of Composite Materials

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 May 2025 | Viewed by 1208

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica, Universidad de Salamanca, 37700 Salamanca, Spain
Interests: composite materials; mechanical behavior; finite element simulation; 3D woven composites; hydrogen storage

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Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University, Incheon 22212, Republic of Korea
Interests: mechanics of composite materials; finite element method; computational stress analysis; thermal stress
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) are increasingly used in a variety of engineering applications due to their superior strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance. Despite these advantages, composite materials are particularly susceptible to damage when subjected to impact loading. Understanding the mechanisms of damage initiation, propagation, and failure is essential for predicting the behavior of composites under impact and for designing more damage-tolerant structures.

This Special Issue aims to explore the latest advances, challenges, and applications of FRP composites, with a particular focus on the impact and post-impact behavior.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Experimental testing;
  • Numerical modeling;
  • Damage inspection techniques;
  • Analytical models for predicting the impact performance of composite materials.

We also welcome studies on buckling and research aimed at improving the toughness and ductility of composite materials.

We look forward to receiving your contributions to this Special Issue.

Dr. Raúl Muñoz
Prof. Dr. Chongdu Cho
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • composite materials
  • impact loading
  • finite element
  • buckling
  • damage tolerance

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 3593 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Impact Energy Absorption by Natural Fiber Composites in Motorcycle Helmets
by Tatiana Barbosa de Andrade, Carlos Roberto Hall Barbosa, Rosana Medeiros Moreira, Edilvando Pereira Eufrazio and Elcio Cruz de Oliveira
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(2), 653; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15020653 - 11 Jan 2025
Viewed by 985
Abstract
In response to the growing concerns regarding motorcyclists’ safety and advancements in the motorcycle industry, this study investigated the potential of natural fibers as a sustainable approach for enhancing helmet protection, thus replacing the traditional use of expanded polystyrene. Utilizing statistical tools such [...] Read more.
In response to the growing concerns regarding motorcyclists’ safety and advancements in the motorcycle industry, this study investigated the potential of natural fibers as a sustainable approach for enhancing helmet protection, thus replacing the traditional use of expanded polystyrene. Utilizing statistical tools such as the Shapiro–Wilk test, Chauvenet’s criterion, and the interquartile range, we compared the impact energy absorption of composites reinforced with natural fibers, including sugarcane bagasse, coconut, and sisal, added to expanded polyurethane prototypes. The results, evaluated through confidence intervals, indicated that composites reinforced with 5% sugarcane bagasse, 5% and 10% coconut, and 10% and 15% sisal exhibited significantly superior impact absorption performance compared to pure expanded polyurethane. Composites with agave sisalana fibers exhibited low variability and reliable performance, with the 10% concentration showing the best results. Sugarcane bagasse fiber demonstrated strong stability, especially at a 5% concentration. Coconut fiber performed well at both 5% and 10% concentrations but showed the greatest variability among the fibers tested. These findings underscore the potential of natural fibers in enhancing helmet safety and suggest promising directions for future research into the ideal composite materials for motorcycle helmets, an inquiry that is currently underway. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact Behaviour of Composite Materials)
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