Axial crushing of metal-composite hybrid tubes: experimental analysis

In this context, the structural performance of metal-composite hybrid tubes subjected to quasi-static axial crushing is experimentally evaluated in this work. The specimens, with circular cross section, were obtained with tubes made in a fully thermoplastic composite internally reinforced with aluminum tubes. The composite material used were made in polypropylene both for the matrix and for the reinforcing fibers. This material has a good axial absorption capacity but irregular behavior during crushing. The addition of a conventional material as reinforcement allowed to increase the absorption capacity by ensuring a more progressive and controlled crush. The analysis was carried out by evaluating, for various geometric configurations, different parameters (mean load, average stress, specific energy, efficiency). The results, discussed in the work, showed how the energy absorption performance of a hybrid structure are higher than the sum of the performance of the single materials.