Investigation of the energy absorption performance of 3D crash boxes produced by additive manufacturing method in motor vehicles

Motor vehicles have become today's most frequently used and preferred means of transportation. Traffic accidents, which increasing in proportion to vehicle numbers cause great problems in terms of people and the environmental. Thus, vehicle safety is of great importance. Vehicle security systems, which are of great importance in terms of both passenger safety and environmental safety, have become an open and mandatory field for development for automotive manufacturers. In this study, the performance under load of lattice structured crash boxes produced by the metal powder additive manufacturing method, which is a new production method of impact absorbers, also known as crash boxes, has been examined. Within the scope of the study, 18 matrix structures with square and hexagonal geometry were designed from Ti6Al4V, INC 718 and S 316L materials and their performances were examined. Although the lattice structure is relatively heavier than the empty structure, It has been determined that lattice structures reveal significant differences of 1.9 times in impact damping performance, and the cross-sectional geometry of the collision box performs 2 times better than similar materials in energy absorption performance.