NEGATIVE STIFFNESS HONEYCOMBS FOR BLAST MITIGATION PANELS

Midé Technology Corporation (Midé), a Hutchinson company, in collaboration with The University of Texas at Austin (UTA), have investigated the potential for novel negative stiffness (NS)-based structures as blast resistant vehicle panels. Protecting vehicles from blast shockwaves would ideally minimize added weight and maximize reusability. Homogenous metal panels provide such protection but without the benefit of reusability, absorbing energy via plastic deformation, while also adding significant weight to a vehicle, thereby sacrificing mobility. Although various emergent approaches, including the use of hexagonal honeycombs and auxetic materials, have proved promising in terms of higher energy absorption per unit mass, such approaches also rely on plastic deformation additionally suffering from the drawback of occasionally transmitting a higher peak force as compared to the incident.