In-plane dynamic crushing of a novel hybrid auxetic honeycomb with enhanced energy absorption

Recently, auxetic honeycombs have attracted widespread attention with characteristics of lightweight, excellent energy absorption capacity and high shear stiffness. The present paper proposes the hybrid star-shaped tetra-chiral honeycomb (STCH) by embedding the tetra-chiral honeycomb (TCH) into the star-shaped honeycomb (SSH). The deformation mode and compression behavior of the STCH were studied numerically and compared with that of the SSH and TCH. Particularly, under the impact velocity of 2 m/s, the specific energy absorption (SEA) of the STCH increases by 80 and 179% than that of the SSH and TCH, respectively. Through investigating the effect of impact velocity and relative density on the crushing behavior of the STCH, the deformation modes map was summarized, and the empirical formula of the plateau stress was presented. Subsequently, the detailed parameter analysis of the STCH revealed that in a certain range, the SEA and stability of the STCH increase with the increase of Nx, θ, and R, and with the decrease of L2 and L1. Finally, the improved STCH (ISTCH) with stable deformation and better crashworthiness was further proposed, and the crashworthiness of it was comprehensively compared with other structures. The result shows the excellent crashworthiness of the ISTCH. Particularly, the SEA of ISTCH can be nearly 8 times higher than that of the TCH.