Experimental study on the impact resistance of hollow thin-walled aluminum alloy tubes and foam-filled aluminum tubes (6063-T5)

This paper presents a study on the axial impact resistance of hollow thin-walled aluminum alloy tubes and aluminum foam-filled thin-walled tubes. 15 hollow thin-walled aluminum alloy tubes and 15 thin-walled aluminum alloy tubes filled with aluminum foam were tested under drop hammer impacts. The process of the impact, the failure modes of the specimens, the time history curves of impact forces, and the vertical deflections were recorded in the test. The effects of impact velocity, aluminum alloy wall thickness, cross-sectional width, and aluminum foam on the performance of the hollow and aluminum foam-filled thin-walled aluminum alloy tubes were discussed. In addition, a finite element model was established to simulate the test considering the strain rate effect of aluminum alloy and aluminum foam. The results showed that both hollow and foam-filled thin-walled aluminum alloy tubes were damaged to different degrees. Under the same impact energy, the damage of the foam-filled thin-walled aluminum alloy tube was less severe than that of the hollow thin-walled aluminum alloy tube; under the axial impact load of the drop hammer, the most effective way to improve the impact resistance of the hollow and foam-filled thin-walled aluminum alloy tubes was to increase the wall thickness of the outer thin-walled aluminum alloy tube, while the effect of increasing the cross-sectional size of the outer thin-walled aluminum alloy tube on the impact resistance of the specimen is less significant. The peak impact force, vertical deflection and the duration of impact forces are most sensitive to the impact velocity.