Impact Performance of a Plate Structure with Coconut-Inspired Microchannels

Abstract

Very few studies have been conducted in the past to reveal the underlying mechanism that causes the high-impact performance of coconuts as a natural composite material and a structure. The goal of this study is to understand the dominant microstructures of coconuts with respect to mechanical impact. In this study, we use a high-resolution X-ray computed tomography (CT) machine in scanning the microstructures and analyzing the patterns of microchannels in coconut shells. By using the established patterns, we model a novel plate structure with coconut-inspired microchannels. Numerical simulation elucidates a significant improvement in crashworthiness. The microchannel design opens a path to further developing self-healing composites and intelligent composites with sensing elements embedded in the channels.

Influence of temperature on the creep behaviour by macroindentation of Cocos nucifera shells and Canarium schweinfurthii cores (bio-shellnut wastes in Cameroon)

“…Such results can lay the basis for transferring those properties into biomimetic technical applications [41]. Similarly, a very recent study [42] allows establishing a 3D model of the natural and structured composite material constituted by coconut, in the form of a flat structure with coconut-inspired microchannels. This new approach of numerical simulation allows understanding the crashworthiness of coconuts.…”

“…Biomaterials exhibit a hierarchical structure [3,38,[41][42][43] with complex morphologies [1,3,30,38,[41][42][43], which makes it difficult to achieve complete characterization.…”

An Experimental Validation of Numerical Model for Top-Hat Tubular Structure Subjected to Axial Crush

“…For example, the crashworthiness requirements for electrical vehicles is different from traditional vehicles [1] because additional safety features are required to protect the battery cells. In terms of designing for crashworthiness, a lot of work has been conducted looking into various material, shapes, sizes, and loading conditions [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Several composite sandwich designs such as inserts and foam-core hybrid composites were tested and it was found that these configurations have good energy absorption capabilities [2,6,15,16].…”

“…Several composite sandwich designs such as inserts and foam-core hybrid composites were tested and it was found that these configurations have good energy absorption capabilities [2,6,15,16]. In another study, coconut-inspired designs were used to enhance crashworthiness performance [3]. Composite corrugated tubes were also found to have excellent crushing behavior which corresponded to good energy absorption capabilities [5,11,12].…”