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Figure 1. 4. Commercial <strong>crash</strong> <strong>boxes</strong> in various geometries.<br />

Two methodologies have been recently applied to improve the energy<br />

absorption performances of <strong>crash</strong> <strong>boxes</strong>. These are the use of multiple-cell structure and<br />

filling the <strong>crash</strong> <strong>boxes</strong> with a with light-weight metallic foam. Aluminum foam filling<br />

particularly has received much interest from both academia and industry since they have<br />

relatively very low density as compared with the foams of other metals. Unlike<br />

polymeric counterparts, aluminum foams are nonflammable and absorb much more<br />

energy under increasingly high deformation loads. In addition, aluminum foams have<br />

capabilities for the attenuating noise and vibration. The gear wheel noise emissions<br />

were reported to be reduced up to 10 dB (A), with the use of Al foam filling, at the full<br />

transmission of torque and turning speed with a 25% weight saving (Stöbener and<br />

Rausch 2009). Aluminum foams have recently been considered as the candidate<br />

materials for the <strong>crash</strong> safety applications. Despite many studies on Al foam filling of<br />

the columns in the literature, which are reviewed in Chapter 3 of this thesis, there has<br />

been no extensive study on Al foam filling of commercial <strong>crash</strong> <strong>boxes</strong> experimentally<br />

and numerically. The motivations of the present thesis include (a) assessing the effect of<br />

Al foam filling on the <strong>crash</strong> performance of a commercial <strong>crash</strong> box, (ii) modeling the<br />

associated crushing behavior of the filled <strong>boxes</strong> and verifying the model results with<br />

experiments and (iii) optimization of the filled <strong>crash</strong> <strong>boxes</strong> made of different materials<br />

and alloys. It is believed that with the results of this thesis, many aspects of the Al foam<br />

filling of commercially available <strong>crash</strong> <strong>boxes</strong> will be clarified and the limits of foam<br />

filling in terms <strong>crash</strong> performance and cost will be determined. In Chapter 2 of the<br />

thesis, the production methods and mechanical behavior of Al closed cell metal foams<br />

are reviewed. Chapter 3 reviews the <strong>crash</strong> behavior of circular and rectangular <strong>cross</strong>-<br />

4

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