Materials for Bicycle Helmets Page | of 3 wee grantadesign.com tet “ona saanos Home > User Area > CES Selector Documentation > Case Studies > Bye Helmet Materials for Bicycle Helmets Introduction ‘The case sty in this section ilistrates how CES can be use for selecting materia The Underving methodology for selection, used hee, ls described In more deta In references (1, 2. Even ina small county such as England, cycng fatalities exceed 200 per year. An increasing umber of eyelts wear helmets ving a aigneant evel of head-protecton in an accident. The ‘major impact-absorbing eement ofthe helmet fsa foamed polymer Ine, commoniy made of ‘Expanded polyetyrane (es). Plymer foam are chosen Because they se easly fabricated and because unie Noneycombs, ther ability To absorb energy i omni-directional. "The helmet designer empirically selects the densty and thickness to mect standard impact tests which are at constant ‘eloety (9 m/s) onto rai anis (3), could some of tie empirtom be replaced by 8 more rational Selection procedure? Figure 1's schematic of a helmet. The liner tikes is ited by Practical and, to some extent, styling. Al halmets have almost the same iner-thckness: 2mm, The best choice of ner materials Usat hich adsorbs the most eneray/unk volume, while Timing the lsd on the head to's lss-than-damaging level, oR SHELL fone ‘Figure 1A oye helmet designed to maximise eneray ‘absorption whe keping the deceleration ofthe skull ‘Below 3009, Design Requirements FUNCTION _][ Protective cyce helmet OBIECTIVE _ || Maximise energy absorption / unit volume ‘CONSTRAINTS J Load on skull < damage load Table 1 ‘The Model > REGISTERED The helmet liner performs two impact-mitigatng funetions. First, it redistributes a arate ipa ede the beat tes on the Sal Sead, Netcom Ait tothe, =~ WERSION magne of ths ttt force ae determines by the pinta stress ofthe tom ME wey stop dleiriutel force The ngumente cn become very sopistael, ba the wectyrglaning sos ~ ADDS NO WATERMARK & ‘The maximum tolerable deceleration, 2 of the human head ts approximately 300 9 applied fora few milseconds only Longer Impacts at this dacalertiontvel cause reve Injury. The mass m of ahead is approximately 3 kg, so the maximum allowable force, to < Tint-drwe http://www. grantadesign.com/resources/materials s/helmet.htm 29-03-2011Materials for Bicycle Helmets Page 2 of 3 ‘As the foam crushes between the obstacle (onthe outside) and the skull (on the inside) i bes ‘ove, distebuting the fad over a projected area A of order 107m. To prevent Frising above 9 a the foam must crush with a plateau stress of approximately o¢(0.25) = F”a=0.9 MPa Impact mitigation depends on the ability to absorb energy ‘The Selection Figure 2 is materials selection chart generated by CES, which enables selection of foams for energy absorption, I shows the maximum compressive strain (the enstficaton strain’), O ae mag] \ a nts \ Y = ily Renee eae Impact Energy Absorption ‘ Compressive Stross @ 25% sain (MPa) Figure 2 Densifeaton strain plotted against plateau stress (which we take asthe compressive Strength at 25% strain) for commerclally-avalabe foams. Output from CES Materials. Foams above the selection fine have high values of energy absorption per unit volume (MY/m?). The contour lines show values of equal energy absorption per une volume. A second stage, igure 3, shows a chart with the same axes as fqure 2, but this tine selects foams table absort energy below the plateau stress of 0.9 Ma (the contrat determined by the aad on the skal [ TTD 7 WW) | VERSION ADDS NO (esis am Soni] (Selection Chart for (Brmeinseosey °*|lImpact Energy Absorption| http://www. grantadesign.com/resources/materi: udies/helmet.htm 29-03-2011for Bicycle Helmets Page 3 of 3 strength at 25% strain) for commercialy-avalable foams. The selection Ine delineates the Constraint of» plateau stress of 0.9 MPa. Outpt fram CES Materiak Figure 4 shows those materials that pass both stages and are therefore viable candidates. They are Expanded Polystyrene with a density of 0.05 Mg/m? ~ EPS (0.05), Cork and ultra low densty Balsa wood (see the selection rests Bebo), Pass on ec 0] a — Ear oaa0a) fe ih = [Foams for o24|Impact Energy Absorption| Compressive Stress @ 25% sain (MPa) ‘igure 4 Densifieaton strain pleted against plateau stress (which we take asthe compressive ‘Strength at 25% strain) for commectally-avalabe foams, showing the candWates that pass the Selection: Output from CES Materials EPS (0.05) can absorb about 0.8 H/m?, which is more than the other candidate materia that ie libaly Below a plateau stress of 9 HPa, The liners of most curren cyelefelmets are made of EPS, but they vary considerably in density and thus weight There Ia tendency to select a low-density foam because R makes the helmet hgiter. Fiure 3 shovs that aernative selections with te same plateau stress absorb much ess energy: Polyurethane of densty 0.53 Mg/m?, PUIO.53), for Instance, absorbs only 0.4 HD/m>. ‘The vale of figure 31s the ease wth which a fst selection can be made, giving a short of Viable candidates, Hd the maximum permissible stress been 0.04 Ma, then the best chotce mong commercaly available foams vould be the low-density polythylenes; had R bsen 19 Pa, then Asi meta foams or end-gain balsa Would Become the best chokes, absorbing almost Results Materials Passing All Stages Balsa, ultra low density, perpendicular to grain cork Polystyrene foam closed cll (0.050) Table 2 Selection Results: Materials fr bicycle helmets References Ashby, 1. "Material Selection in Hechanical Desig’, Pergamon Pras, Oxforg ‘cambitige Materials Selector Users Manat, Granta Design Lined, Camty Hille, Nas and Gilchrist, "The Effectiveness of Foams in Bicycle and Hota ‘Aci, Anal. ed Preview, 23, pp153-163, 1991 {Gloson, C3. and Ashby, HF. “Celular Sols, Structure and Properties 2nd gall, Cambridge Universty ress (1996) ources/materia http://www grantadesign.com/e: