The effect of fiber type on energy absorption capacities of crash boxes made of composite material

Nowadays, the demand for road transportation is increasing rapidly. As a result of this demand, the increase in the number of vehicles leads to an increase in traffic accidents. There are two different security systems, active and passive, which are open to development in the automotive industry. Active safety systems are in place to prevent a possible traffic accident, while passive safety systems are in place to ensure that the driver or passengers are minimally affected after the accident. Active safety systems; anti-lock (ABS), anti-skid system (ASR), electronic stability program (ESP). Passive safety systems are crash boxes, seat belts and airbags. The collision boxes are connected to the chassis iron located in the front part of the vehicle. By absorbing the impact energy generated at the time of a possible collision. It ensures that the driver or passengers are minimally affected by this impact. Collision boxes are usually made of metal or aluminum material. Composite materials, one of the most widely used material structures of recent times, are more advantageous, more durable and longer lasting than metal and aluminum materials with many mechanical properties, so the areas of preference are increasing. Composite materials are used in collision boxes and passenger and driver safety is increased by providing high energy absorption. In this study, it was aimed to reduce the CO2 emissions that disrupt the ecological balance and to contribute to fuel economy by changing the material structures and geometries of the collision boxes used in vehicles, reducing their weight and making them durable and available for use. 3 square, 3 circular and 3 hexagonal formed from Carbon Fiber, Glass Fiber and Aramid Fiber materials using the vacuum infusion method were subjected to 50 mm long printing tests at a speed of 2 mm/min to be under equal conditions in a system consisting of 9 samples in total. As a result of the study, numerical data of the total damped energy, maximum deformation force, average deformation force, crushing force efficiency and specific enerji absorption were obtained. When these data are examined, the total damped energy value of the carbon fiber reinforced hexagon geometry sample was found to be 246.171 joules and the specific energy damping value was found to be 8577.3 j/kg. The decanter with the highest energy absorption performance among the samples is the carbon fiber reinforced hexagon sample.