Research and development of new materials with high energy dissipation density is one of the key approaches to promote the automotive crash safety. [1,2] Conventional energy dissipation materials and structures based on metal plastic deformation, [3] buckling of cellular truss or foam, [4] damping of polymers, [5] internal friction of textile composites, [6] and phase transformation [7] are employed to achieve the energy desired dissipation goal. Most materials developed so far, however, have relatively low energy dissipation performance in terms of the unit mass/volume consideration, and most of them are not reusable. Therefore, reusable, high-density energy dissipation material candidates are in pressing need for industries.Nanomaterial is considered and proven to be a promising alternative to these traditional materials, [8][9][10][11] among which an innovative nanoporous material energy absorption system (NEAS) was recently established [12] where a nanoporous material and liquid are combined with controllable wetting properties. In essence, NEAS takes advantage of the ultralarge surface area of nanoporous material and during the liquid infiltration process, it converts the external mechanical energy into the excessive solid-liquid interfacial energy and frictional heat. The wetting characteristic, which dominates the infiltration/defiltration and flow behaviors of liquid molecules, can be adjusted via various approaches, including
COMMUNICATIONInteraction with liquids at the ultra-large surface area of nanoporous material enables a high-efficiency energy dissipation system with wide perspective applications [A. Han, et al., Langmuir 2008, 24, 7044]. In this paper, a nanoporous energy dissipation system composed of a mixture of zeolite ZSM-5 and water is established and studied experimentally. Firstly, quasi-static compression experiments are carried out to analyze the pressure-volume curve and reveal the energy dissipation mechanism. Afterwards, a parametric study is conducted to explore the effects of three parameters, the pretreatment temperature of zeolite ZSM-5 (600-1100 8C), mass ratio of ZSM-5 to water (1:5-6:5), and average zeolite particle size (2.145-5.251 mm before heated or 6.104-9.557 mm after heated). Results show that in order to obtain optimum energy absorption performance, the pretreatment temperature of about 1000 8C, and higher ratio of ZSM-5 with larger particle size are desired. With high energy dissipation and reusability, the zeolite-water system with optimal parameters established herein may become an attractive cushioning device. 740 wileyonlinelibrary.com ß