Journal Pre-proofs

Review

A review of the crashworthiness performance of energy absorbing composite

structure within the context of materials, manufacturing and maintenance for
sustainability

Chukwuemeke William Isaac, Chidozie Ezekwem

PII: S0263-8223(20)33007-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.113081
Reference: COST 113081

To appear in: Composite Structures

Received Date: 10 May 2020

Revised Date: 25 August 2020
Accepted Date: 28 September 2020

Please cite this article as: William Isaac, C., Ezekwem, C., A review of the crashworthiness performance of
energy absorbing composite structure within the context of materials, manufacturing and maintenance for
sustainability, Composite Structures (2020), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2020.113081

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 Composite Structures
A review of the crashworthiness performance of energy absorbing composite structure within the
context of materials, manufacturing and maintenance for sustainability

Chukwuemeke William Isaac*,1, Chidozie Ezekwem2

1Silesian University of Technology, Department of Measurements and Control Systems, Akademicka 16,
44-100 Gliwice, Poland
2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

(Corresponding author email address: *chukwuemeke.william.isaac@polsl.pl)

Abstract

Energy absorbing structures made from composite materials are lightweight, fuel economical and
environmentally friendly. In spite of these advantages, some issues have to be addressed to ensure more
efficient energy absorption and crashworthiness performance. Good understanding of the proper material
selection, architectural design, fabrication technique as well as repairs and maintenance strategy can
guarantee the production, vibration/noise reduction and sustainability of highly efficient energy absorbing
composite structures (EACS). In this review, an overview of recent advances of EACS is presented. First,
salient explanation of the crashworthiness indices and failure mechanisms during deformation of EACS
are given. It then critically examines different composite materials and common manufacturing techniques
used for the production of EACS. Different factors affecting the specific energy absorption and energy
absorption capacity are detailed. Also, the challenges of EACS with useful proposals and future directions
are provided. Moreover, damage assessments as well as composite repairs are also given. Finally, it
addresses the need of sensors, green and e-maintenance in EACS for sustainable maintenance.

Keywords: Composite energy absorbers; Specific energy absorption; Energy absorption capacity;
Crashworthiness performance; Lightweight device; Device casings; Sustainable maintenance

1. Introduction

During impact or crash of moving vehicles, the installed energy absorbing device made from metallic
materials convert the kinetic energy released to plastic deformation energy. However, energy absorbing
structures made from composites convert the impact or kinetic energy to some form of deformation
absorbed energy. The energy absorbed by these structures has been shown to have higher energy
absorption capacity (EAC) than their metallic counterpart. To this end, the application of composite
materials for energy absorption of crushing objects has become a subject of great interest in recent years. A
good number of highly innovative research works has been carried out by prominent researchers,
specialized in the field of crashworthiness. The term crashworthiness refers to the ability of a material to
protect its passenger, cargo or/and valuable from injuries, damage or/and death during crash incidence. The
type of material used in the fabrication of energy absorbing devices is a major factor that determines how
efficient energy will be absorbed. For more than two decades, energy absorbing metallic structures
(EAMS) has continued to gained great popularity in crashworthiness application [1–10]. However,
progress in crashworthiness application shows that more researchers are embracing the use of energy
absorbing composite structures (EACS). The increasing motivation behind the adaptation of EACS in
aircraft, automobile, ships, wind turbine and space application, stems from their numerous advantages over
those made from metallic materials. One of the advantages of EACS over EAMS is that they are more
environmentally friendly due to their lightweight characteristics. Other advantages include better
mechanical properties such as lower density, higher strength and higher specific stiffness as well as the
promising potential to effectively control vibration and reduce noise [11].

To guarantee the protection of lives and properties during catastrophic crash incidence, the correct
combination of materials and manufacturing processes must be ensured. Different composites materials
have been utilized and varieties of syntheses approach have been employed for producing composite
energy absorbers. The structural behaviour and crashworthiness performance of EACS life cycle are highly
dependent on their material composition, manufacturing process and maintenance for sustainability. In the
event of crash, the composite crushed tubes or structures fail due to some complex micro-structural
mechanism. Their performances are measured by a number of parameters which include specific energy
absorption (SEA), energy absorption (EA) capacity, crush force efficiency (CFE), mean crushing force
(MCF) and sound transmission loss (STL). Other performance indices include initial peak force (𝐹𝑖),
peak/critical crushing force (𝐹𝑃), initial failure indicator (IFI) and energy absorption efficiency (EAE).
Table 1 represent the formulas and definitions of some of the major crashworthiness and absorption
indicators. In many crashworthiness studies of composite structures, the SEA and EA parameters have been
reported as the most important indicators. Hence, this review emphasizes more on the SEA and EA results
obtained by most researchers. Moreover, these two parameters are introduced as sustainable indicators for
maintenance in the industry 4.0 context. Furthermore, an increase in SEA, EA and CFE and a decrease in
initial peak force during crushing or impacts indicates that the energy absorber is a potential candidate for
crashworthiness application. However, higher initial peak load/force causes the crushed tube to exhibit low
overall crashworthiness performance.

Table 1
Definitions and formulas of major crashworthiness and absorption indicators for EACS. The double arrow
(↨) in the reference column signifies that majority of authors defined the corresponding parameter.
Parameter Equation Definition Reference
SEA 𝐸𝐴 – ratio of the energy absorption to the crushed ↕
𝑚𝑐 mass (𝑚𝑐) of the composite structure
𝑑𝑐
EA – integration of the crushing force 𝐹(𝑥) with ↕
∫ 0
𝐹(𝑥)𝑑𝑥
respect to the displacement𝑥 over the crushed
structure distance 𝑑𝑐
1 𝑑𝑐
MCF – total energy absorbed divided by the crushed ↕
𝑑𝑐∫ 0
𝐹(𝑥)𝑑𝑥
structure distance obtained from the force-
displacement curve
CFE 𝑀𝐶𝐹 – ratio of the mean crushing force to the peak ↕
𝐹𝑃 crushing force 𝐹𝑃
IFI 𝐹𝑖 – ratio of the initial crushed force [12]
𝐹𝑃 𝐹𝑖 to the peak crushing force.

1 𝜀𝑐
EAE – total stress 𝜎(𝜀) of the structure divided by the [13]
𝜎𝑠 ∫ 𝜎(𝜀)𝑑𝜀
0
stress 𝜎𝑠 at strain 𝜀𝑠 obtained from the stress-
strain curve.
STL
10log10 ()
𝒫𝑖
𝒫𝑡
– ratio of the incident sound power (𝒫𝑖) to the
transmitted sound power (𝒫𝑡).
[11]

Crushed composites tubes, sections and lattices have been investigated when subjected to quasi-static or
low velocity [14–20] and dynamic [18, 21, 22] loading conditions. Under these crushing impact conditions,
nearly all studies have reported one or more fracture mechanisms and failure modes. In fact, most
researchers have emphasized on the fracture mechanisms to analyse the crashworthiness behaviour of
composite structures. Typical of these fracture mechanisms are fiber breakage, delamination, matrix
cracking and matrix debonding. A ply model, and schematic representations of various fracture
mechanisms are depicted in Fig. 1. Fiber breakage and matrix cracking are also called intralaminar failure
mechanism resulting from damage within the ply. Delamination is the separation of layers during
mechanical impact and it is also called interlaminar failure mechanism. This occurs owing to low resin and
tensile characteristics of laminated structures. In this situation, the strain energy generated in the surface is
greater than the critical energy during fracture. The influence of interlaminar strengthening strategies on
the crushing performance of EACS was extensively reported by Warrior et al. [23]. For matrix debonding,
it occurs when there is an interaction between the interlaminar and intralaminar damage as shown in Fig.
1(d). Apart from these major forms of fracture mechanisms in composite structures, other crushing failure
modes such as splaying or lamina bending, transverse sharing/fragmentation and brittle fracturing have
been reported [24-26], as illustrated in Fig. 1(b and c). While the splaying mode was reported by [25] to
have mode I fracture, it was also observed that both transverse sharing and brittle fracturing has Mode II
and Mode III fracture, respectively. The Mode III fracture is obtained from the mixture of both Mode I and
Mode II [27], with a splitting characteristics feature as reported by Elgalai et al. [28]. Typical failure modes
by Mode classification and without specifying the Mode classification as observed by contemporary
researchers of crashworthiness studies are given in Table 2 and Table 3, respectively. Apart from the
conventional mode classification (i.e. Mode I, Mode II and Mode III) by Mamalis et al. [29], a fourth kind
of mode (i.e. Mode IV) has been introduced by some authors as typified in Table 2. Also, Mode V and
Mode VI were reported by Sun et al. [30].

a b

c d
 Fig. 1. Typical fracture mechanisms in composite structures showing (a) ply model [31] (b) schematic
illustration of Mode I and Mode II fracture [26] (c) schematic illustration of splaying and fragmentation
[50] (d) matrix cracking, fiber breakage and debonding for glass/epoxy hexagonal ring [32].

Table 2
Summary of selected studies on EACS failure modes using Mode classification.

Authors Geometry Classes of failure modes Referen

shape Mode I Mode II Mode III Mode IV ce
Mamalis et Square Progressive Local shell Mid-length [29]
al. end-crushing buckling Collapse

Hu et al. Box Splaying/lamin Transverse Brittle fracture [25]

a bending sharing/fragmen
tation

Quanjin et Cylinder Progressive Unstable local Progressive Mid-length [33]

al. folding buckling local buckling collapse

Mahdi et al. Rectangle Splaying and Pull-out and Splaying and [34]
pull out fracturing fragmentation

Alkateb et Cone Progressive, Progressive Symmetric [12]

al. splaying failure (shear collapse mode
fragmentation (radial length
and lateral displacement)
matrix) and
local buckling

Tarlochan Cylinder Lamina Petal shape [35]

et al. bending, foam fragmentation,
compression lamina bending
failure

Silva et al. Cylinder Progressive Brittle fracture Brittle fracture Plastic [36]
crushing, and with progressive deformation
micro- large crushing and and progressive
fragmentation, fragmentation medium crashing
delamination. fragmentation

Liu et al. Square Stable Unstable local Mid-length [37]

progressive buckling collapse
end-crushing

Liu et al. Square Mid-height Unstable local Unstable [38]

collapse buckling collapse

Liu et al. Double hat Progressive Unstable local Mid-length [39]

end crushing buckling collapse

Mahdi et al. Cone Progressive longitudinal Fracture and [40]

failure cracks and fibre splitting
fractures

Saenz- Semi- Progressive Unstable local [41]

Dominguez hexagon crushing, buckling,
et al. micro- delamination
fragmentation,
interlaminar
cracks

Othman et Square Micro- - - [42]

al. fragmentation,
lamina
bending, axial
crack,
petal fibre and
matrix cracks

Mohamed Rectangle, Buckling of Progressive end- Compression Shear failure of [43]

et al. trapezium facesheet crushing failure of core core
of facesheet

Othman et Square Progressive Brittle collapse Progressive [44]

al. crushing, folding, hinging
Micro-
fragmentation

Zhu et al. Cylinder Unstable local Large [45]

buckling fragmentation

Sivagurunat Cylinder Splaying Bending of Transverse [46]

han et al. formation fronds, shearing,
fibre/matrix fragmentation,
fracture, axial crack
shearing and
fracture of
lamina bundles

Sun et al. Cylinder Stable and Transverse Progressive Stable local [30]
progressive shearing, lamina transverse buckling
crushing, bending and shearing
delamination, delamination
lamina
bending and
fracturing

Bakar et al. Rectangle Fiber/matrix Progressive Intraply brittle Fiber peeling, [47]
cracking, failure, local fracturing, transverse
crazing, local buckling, failure and shearing
buckling fragmentation, crushing
transverse
shearing

Tarlochan Square Frond growth Frond petal-like Plastic hinge Transverse [48]
and Ramesh inward and outward, like formation, sharing, crack
outward, splaying, progressive propagation,
splaying, fragmentation buckling, splaying,
fragmentation splaying fragmentation,
fragmentation, densification of
 densification of foam core.
foam core
Sun et al. Circular Fiber Shearing, fiber Bending- [49]
stretching pull-out shearing

Table 3
Summary of selected studies on EACS failure modes without specifying the Mode classification.

Authors Geometry Various forms of failure modes Reference

Jiang and Ren Hat shape Delamination, splaying mode, tearing mode, fiber breakage [50]
and matrix cracking and burr mode
Oshkovr et al. Square Local buckling and mid length buckling [51]
Eshkoor et al. Square Local buckling and mid length buckling [52]
Ghoushji et al. Square Mid-length buckling and local buckling [53]
Alkbir et al. Hexagon Local bulking, bending and tear kinking, fragmentation and [54]
catastrophic
Jiang et al. Helicoid Fiber rupture, fiber buckling and kinking, matrix cracking, [55]
matrix crushing, in-plane shear failure.
Hu et al. Nested Diamond mode with circumferential lobes [56]
Cylinder
Ma et al. Cylinder Bending , splaying and buckling [57]
Baba Square flat Matrix cracking, fiber breakage, delamination within the [58]
and curved face-sheet, debonding between the face-sheet and core,
shape transverse shearing, in-plane shearing
Alkateb et al. Cone Localised buckling and mid length buckling [59]
Özbek et al. Cylinder Transverse shearing, lamina bending, local buckling [60]
Joosten et al. Hat shape Petalling [61]

Having introduced the major crushing performance indices and failure modes of EACS, one of the goals of
this review work is to critically examine different composite materials that have been used by researchers
to produce energy absorbers. These materials can be artificially or naturally obtained. The combination of
the fiber reinforcements and matrix resins produce the composite materials which can be fabricated by
different techniques to make various energy absorbing composite structures. Another goal is to examine the
role of manufacturing process of EACS on their crashworthiness performance. The fabricated structural
tubes investigated by researchers have come in various categories. However, those examined in this review
include pure composite structures which can either be purely synthetic fiber/matrix composite or purely
natural fiber/matrix composite or their hybrid form such as the combination of natural and synthetic fiber
with their matrices. These structural fibrous materials are also introduced as promising candidates and
additional advantage of controlling vibration and reducing noise. Other hybrid structures, for example, the
combination of metallic and fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) are also discussed. Bio-inspired structures,
structures with functionally graded thickness, composite sandwich structures and nano-structures are
reviewed in details. Fig. 2 shows an overview of the various categories of EACS reviewed in this article.
While chapter two of this review takes care of the materials and structures for EACS, chapter three
painstakingly explains the fabrication techniques commonly used for producing EACS. The most
commonly used fabrication methods and processes such as the hand lay-up, resin transfer/infusion
moulding, filament winding, pultrusion, vacuum bagging, wrapping process and additive manufacturing or
3D printing, are satisfactorily discussed. Finally, chapter four attempts to address the challenges, future
advances and maintenance for sustainability of composite energy absorbers.
Fig. 2. An overview of the categorization of energy absorbing composite structures reviewed in this study.

2. Materials and structures

Energy absorbers made from composites materials have unique mechanical properties than their metallic
counterpart. These properties includes higher strength, lower weight, higher specific stiffness, better
potential in terms of vibration control and noise reduction. The composite materials used for fabricating
these structures are a combination of fiber which gives the reinforcement and polymer matrix. Depending
on the type of forming processes, the fiber/matrix composites can be mixed with appropriate proportion of
hardener/curing substances to reduce the curing time and allow for the consolidation of the polymer
materials. Polymer matrix can be thermosetting or thermoplastics while the fiber reinforcement may come
from natural or synthetic materials. In this section, different forms and combination of composites
materials used for crashworthiness application are addressed.

2.1. Polymeric matrices and foams

Polymeric matrices used for crashworthiness applications are usually thermoplastics or thermosets. While
thermoplastics have high molecular weight and capability of reforming on heat application, the thermosets
on the other hand are characterized by low molecular weight and cannot be reformed. Common examples
of thermoplastics adopted for the production of energy absorbers are polyamide (nylon) [62, 63],
polystyrene [64], polypropylene [65, 66], polyethylene [67, 68], polyetherether ketone (PEEK) [69, 70] and
polyvinylchloride [71, 72]. For thermosets, the common types used for energy absorbers are polyesters
resin [73, 74], polyurethane [75, 76], epoxy resin [60, 77, 78], phenolic [79, 80] and vinyl ester resins [81].
Depending on the type of applications, polystyrene and polyurethane foams can serve as thermoplastics
and either thermoplastics or thermosets, respectively. Table 4 shows the mechanical properties and
molecular structure of typical polymeric matrices which can be mixed with their fibers to produce energy
absorbing devices.

Table 4
Mechanical properties and molecular structures of common polymeric matrices used for EACS.

Matrix Mechanical properties Chemical References

Density (𝑘𝑔 𝑚3) Strength (𝑀𝑃𝑎) formula/structure
Thermoplastics
Polypropylene 900 - 920 26 - 41.4 (C3H6)𝑛 [82, 83]

Polyethylene 900 -1000 20 - 35 (C2H4)𝑛 [84]

Polyetherether 1300 - 1350 100 [84]

ketone (PEEK)
Polyamide 1140 500 [(CH2)mNHCO]𝑛 [85]
(nylon) Polyamide 6, m = 5

Polyester 1300-1400 55-60 [OC(C6H4)COO(CH2)2O]n [84]

Polystyrene 1060-10400 25-69 (C8H8)𝑛 [84]

Polyvinyl chloride (C2H3Cl)𝑛

Thermosets
Polyester 1100-1400 35-95 HO(ROOCR′COO)𝑛 [84]
(unsaturated)
Epoxy 1200-1400 50-100 [82,86,57, 87, 88]
Vinyl ester 1200-1400 68-83 [84, 89]
Phenolic 1200-1400 35-60 [84]
Polymer foams
Polystyrene 21.7-27.8 (C8H8)𝑛 [64]
 Polyurethane H C [91, 43]
[ ―R ― | ― || ― O ―
N O ] 𝑛

2.2. Synthetic composites

A number of synthetic materials have been combined with their polymers and fabricated to produce EACS.
The commonly used synthetic fibers for these products are carbon, glass and aramid (i.e. kevlar) fibers.
However, the first two fiber types are predominantly used because of their higher mechanical strength than
the kevlar fiber as shown in Table 5. Ochelski and Gotowicki [92] experimentally investigated the effects
of various factors on the energy absorption capacity (EAC) of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and
glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP). The authors also compared the two different composite tube forms
and found that the SEA of the carbon epoxy composite (i.e. CFRP) tube was 20% higher than the glass
epoxy composite (i.e. GFRP) ones. However, it is seen from the Table 5 that the elongation i.e., the failure
strain of kevlar fiber is higher than the carbon and glass fiber. To further improve the mechanical properties
of these synthetic fibers, appropriate amount of nanoparticle reinforcements such as carbon nanotubes and
graphene can be mixed with these fibers. These nanoparticles have higher mechanical strength as shown in
Table 5. They are, therefore, excellent reinforcing materials when added to synthetic composites and can
improve the crushing characteristics of energy absorbers. Elmarakba et al. [63] modelled the mechanical
performance of a crash box. The material selection was a three phase composite made from short glass
fiber with mixture of disc-shaped graphene platelets all firmly fixed into a polymer matrix. A mass of 800
kg was used to crush the crash box and numerical techniques such as the finite element and mean-field
homogenisation technique were used to approximate their crushing response. The results of their findings
indicated enhancement in the SEA value of graphene/GFRP composites than the bear GFRP.

Table 5
Properties of commonly used fiber reinforcements for EACS.

Fiber/reinforcement Physical property Mechanical property Reference

Density (𝑘𝑔 𝑚3) Strength Modulus Elongation
(𝑀𝑃𝑎) (𝐺𝑃𝑎) (%)
Synthetic fiber
Carbon/graphite 1610-2200 4900 230 2.1 [57, 93, 94, 95]
Glass 2500 2000-3000 70 2.5 [96]
Kevlar 1440 2920 70.5 3.6 [57]
Graphene 1800 130000 [94, 97]
Carbon nanotube 1300-1400 13000-53000 1000 16 [94, 85]
Natural fiber
Jute 1300-1460 269-800 10-30 1.5-1.8 [94, 98, 99, 100]
Flax 1400-1500 345-1500 27.6 2.7-3.2 [98, 99, 100, 101]
Ramie 1500-1550 147-938 44-128 2.0-3.8 [98, 99, 100, 101]
Kenaf 1450 930 53 1.6 [100, 101]
Hemp 1480 550-900 70 1.6 [99, 100, 101]
Silk 1320 500-1300 5.22 15.4 [85]
Abaca 1500 400-760 12 3-10 [98, 100, 101]
Banana 1350 444-600 12 5.9 [100, 101, 84]
Bamboo 600-1400 140-800 11-33.87 1.4 [102, 100, 101]
Coconut 1150 500 2.5 20 [101]

2.2.1. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP)

A vast amount of investigatory work on crashworthiness of CFRP composites structures have been carried
out [103-111]. In recent time, Zhu et al. [112] designed CFRP single-cell and multi-cell structures. The
authors compared the total energy absorption of the two different structures and reported that the multi-cell
structure produced higher EAC than those with single-cell configuration. Xin et al. [113] proposed a CFRP
to show the influence of cutting angle on the SEA of crushed tubes. The research team also investigated
how EA of the crushed structure can be improved by carefully adjusting the position of the cuts. Boria et
al. [114] investigated some parametric effects such as the thickness of the CFRP wall, the angle of conical
structures and minor internal diameter of the conical CFRP structure. Their result showed the significant
effect of inclination angle on the failure modes of the structure. However, by increasing the thickness of the
CFRP laminate and the average diameter as well as a reduction in wall thickness, the EAC was increased.

Graphite, a special form of carbon fiber has been combined with matrix resin to produce energy absorbers.
For example, Siromani et al. [115] experimentally investigated the influence of triggers on the EAC of
circular graphite/epoxy tubes. Their study showed a significant decrease in the peak load and simultaneous
increase in SEA due to the effect of the trigger mechanism. Also, Schultz and Hyer [116] obtained the SEA
results of graphite-epoxy tubes with circular and square configurations. The SEA values of the circular tube
specimens were reported to be higher than those of the square ones.

2.2.2. Glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP)

Apart from using the carbon fiber reinforced composite tubes as energy absorbers; the glass fibers with
their matrices have also gained popularity [117, 118]. Various forms of GFRP are available which include
A-GFRP, C-GFRP, D-GFRP, E-GFRP and S-GFRP. However, the E-GFRP and S-GFRP are most
commonly utilized for manufacturing energy absorbing structures [119, 120]. The fiber volume content and
staking sequence are very important factors that influence the performance of the composite crushed
structures. The influence of fiber orientation and staking sequence was studied by Solaimurugan and
Velmurugan [121] using GFRP composite tube. Their findings showed that the SEA increased with
increased axial fiber content during axial impact. However, the value of SEA evidently decreased when the
fiber content was above 68% of the 0° fibers. In the event of crushing the tube laterally, it was also
observed by the authors that the SEA increased with increased amount of hoop fiber content. In another
research study, a conical frusta made from GFRP was used by Kathiresan et al. [122] to investigate the
influence of wall thickness and conical angle on the EAC of the crushed GFRP tube. The results of their
findings indicated an increase in SEA as the semi-apical angle of the conical tube decreased. Also, the
slenderness ratio was seen to have a significant effect on the EAC, for example, the higher the slenderness
ratio, the more the tube absorbed energy. In their investigation, due to the shrinkage of the epoxy resin
during the curing of the conical GFRP, the influence of ply orientation was not taken into account. To
further understand the influence of fiber orientation on the crushing performance of GFRP tubes, Hu et al.
[123] subjected the composite structure to both quasi-static and impact loading conditions. The obtained
results showed no significant influence of fiber orientation on the SEA of the crushed circular tube. On the
other hand, crashworthiness parameters such as the crushing load efficiency, mean and peak loads, showed
significant difference with fiber orientation when the tube was subjected to different loading conditions.
Different shapes and sizes of GFRP composite crushed tubes were investigated by Zhang et al. [124]. The
shapes of the configurations studied were circular, conical and square. The authors filled the GFRP
configurations with foam and reported both a stable and progressive failure mode for all the configurations.
Furthermore, in their findings, it was reported that the hollow circular GFRP tubes gave the highest SEA
than the conical and square tubes.

2.2.3. Kevlar fiber reinforced polymer (KFRP)

Synthetic aramid such as kevlar fiber have been reinforced with their matrix resins and synthesized to
produce efficient EACS. For instance, Moure et al [90] designed an aramid laminate made of kevlar with
polyvinyl butyral resin (KFRP). Their design was used to evaluate the EAC of laminate at low impact
energy condition. In a similar vein, Taraghi et al. [125] fabricated woven kevlar/epoxy laminates and study
was made on their crushing response under low velocity impact. In order to improve their EA, multi-walled
carbon nanotubes were added to the composite laminates. Their result indicated an improvement in EAC
by 35% when 0.5 wt% of carbon nanotubes were added to KFRP composite laminates at room temperature.
Similarly, at low temperature, when 0.3 wt% of carbon nanotubes was added to the KFRP composite
laminates, the EAC improved by 34%. Further investigation of crashworthiness performance can be carried
out to compare results obtained by these authors [125] with CFRP and GFRP laminated composites with or
without reinforcement carbon nanotubes.

2.3. Natural composites

In recent years, natural composites such as natural fiber reinforced polymers have increasingly been
applied in aircraft, aerospace and automotive sectors. Their main advantages are low cost of production,
ease in fabrication, bio-degradable nature and environmental friendliness. In addition to these merits, their
low density and high rigidity has attracted their use in many crashworthiness applications. Natural fibers,
also called bio-fibers derive their fibers mainly from plant or animals. Those whose fibers are typically
derived from plant are sometimes referred to as green composites. A number of these bio-fibers have been
used for the production of energy absorbers. While some of the plant fibers include jute, kenaf, ramie, flax,
caster, abaca, bamboo and hemp, the animal fibers are silk, wool and hair. The mechanical properties of
some of these bio-fibers are given in Table 5. From the table, it is seen that the mechanical strength of most
natural fibers are lower than the synthetic fibers. This is because; the hydrophilic nature of green fibers
reduces their mechanical strengths. This disadvantage of natural fiber has dissuaded many researchers to
combine them with their biopolymer matrices for the production of energy absorbers for crashworthiness
application. Infact, Joosten et al. [126] used CFRP synthetic composites to further buttress the effect of
moisture contents on the energy absorption capacity of composite energy absorbing structure. They
showed that when the CFRP open hat shaped crushed section was exposed to moisture through
environmental conditioning, its energy absorption capacity was reduced. However, to reduce the moisture
contents and increase the mechanical strength of green fibers, appropriate amount of nanoparticles have
been added to the natural fibers [127,128]. Also, in recent times, nanoparticles mixed with geopolymers
have showed increase in both compression and flexural strength [129]. In the following subsections,
commonly used natural fiber reinforcements with their polymer matrices are discussed.

2.3.1. Kenaf fiber reinforced polymer

From Table 5, it is seen that the kenaf fiber has a relatively high density with high tensile strength and
stiffness as compared to many other plant fibers. Moreover, kenaf fiber has been shown to have more
cellulose fiber contents and better optimized orientation of the micro fibrils with respect to the fiber axis
[130]. For these reasons, a good number of researchers have combined this particular fiber reinforcement
with matrix resins to produce natural FRP energy absorbers. A common polymer matrix usually combined
with kenaf is the epoxy resin. Alkbir et al. [54] studied the influence of some geometric parameters on the
crashworthiness performance of kenaf/epoxy hexagonal structures. Their studies enabled them to evaluate
the extent of catastrophic failure of the crushed tube. Also, during their investigation, it was discovered that
geometrical parameter such as tube angles significantly affect crushing performance. In another study,
Alkbir et al. [131] obtained non-woven kenaf/epoxy energy absorbing composite tubes and investigated the
effect of tube angles on the crashworthiness performance of hexagonal tube. Finally, Alkatab et al. [12]
examined the effects of vertex angles of kenaf/epoxy composite cones tubes and obtained some
catastrophic failure modes. Also, their results showed significant effect of vertex angles variation on the
crashworthiness parameters of conical natural fiber composite tubes.

2.3.2. Ramie fiber reinforced polymer

A very important quality of ramie fibers is their high stability after they have undergone ageing. Ghoushji
et al. [132] used ramie fiber with epoxy matrix to perform a preliminary test on its potentials and promises
of being used as energy absorbers. They reported that by increasing the lengths of the ramie/epoxy
composite square tube specimen, the differences in the SEA results were insignificant. In a similar study,
Ghoushji et al. [53] proposed a ramie/bio-epoxy composite square tube and investigated the effects of
different lengths and number of layers on the crashworthiness performance of the tube. It was observed that
the increased lengths and layers of the composite tubes significantly increased the capacity of the tube to
absorb energy. Moreover, the composite tubes were compared with metallic tubes investigated by Sun et al.
[133]. Their results revealed an approximate 16% increase in SEA of the ramie composite tubes over their
metallic counterparts.

2.3.3. Silk fiber reinforced polymer

Ataollahi et al. [134] conducted an experiment to investigate the crushing performance of silk fiber/epoxy
resin. The authors studied the effect of wall lengths and failure modes on their crushing response of the
composite tubes. Their report showed non improvement in the crushing performance of silk/epoxy
composite configuration when compared to the conventional energy absorbers. Oshkovr et al. [51]
experimental investigated the crushing performance of square tubes made from silk/epoxy composite. They
studied the effects of varying length and thickness of the composite tubes on their total energy absorption
and crush load efficiency. Eshkoor in collaboration with Oshkovr and other research team [52] performed a
comparative study of silk/epoxy composite square tubular structure. The research team demonstrated how
triggered mechanism on the tube significantly reduced the peak load and increased CFE. However, it was
reported that the triggers had no effect on the EAC and SEA of the composite tubes. In another
investigation, Eshkoor et al. [135] utilized silk/epoxy composite rectangular tube to show the potentials of
triggers on the tubes. The stated that triggers can change the catastrophic failure mode to progressive
failure mode; and consequently improve the crushing performance of the structure. Also, in their findings,
they observed higher efficiency in the SEA values of shorter composite tubes than longer ones. Finally, it
was reported that the total energy absorption was unaffected by the triggered mechanism. Other notable
works performed to demonstrate the application of silk reinforcement fiber with epoxy resin for the
production of EACS have been carried out by Eshkoor et al. [136], and Ude and Azhari [137].

2.3.4. Other natural fiber reinforced polymers

Natural fiber composites such as jute/epoxy resin composite was used by Sivagurunathan et al. [46] to
produce circular energy absorbing tubes. The authors studied the effect of triggers on the EAC of the tubes.
They subjected the tubes to axial loading and their results indicated a stable progressive mode in the
triggered tubes which were in contrast to the non-triggered ones. Yan et al. [138] and Dhakal et al. [139]
used flax/epoxy and hemp/polyester, respectively to produce energy absorbing tubes. The results of the
crushed tubes obtained by the research team revealed that there was a threshold fiber volume fraction for
which the hemp/polyester composite tubes began to decrease in EAC even with increased layers of hemp
fibers. This finding reveals the importance of investigating the proper volume fraction of energy absorbing
bio-composites needed to ensure maximum crushing efficiency. Rahman et al. [140] investigated both the
out of plane and in-plane impact load of flax/polypropylene composite structure. They applied different
impact tests equipment on the tubes with different fiber orientations and observed the variation in the
amount of energy on the bio-composite structures. The result of their findings showed higher EAC in the
laminate with more damaged parts. Also, the fiber orientation was reported to play significant role in
determining the EAC and failure mechanism of the bio-composite tubes.

Meredith et al. [141] employed various natural fibers such as jute, flax and hemp with epoxy resins for all
the samples and demonstrated the promising potentials bio-fibers have in replacing their synthetic fiber
counterpart (i.e. carbon/epoxy). Using the same fabrication technique (i.e. VARTM) to produce the
different energy absorbing tubes, the authors obtained the SEA values of hemp, flax and jute fibers as 54.3
J/g, 48.5 J/g and 32.6 J/g, respectively. The differences observed in SEA values were attributed to the
variation in fiber volume fraction contents. For example, the fiber volume fraction of the hemp, jute and
flax fibers were approximately between 44.39 to 52.52 %, 29.8 to 31.6 % and 33.7 to 41.79 %,
respectively. These results were compared with synthetic carbon fiber tube and it was seen that the SEA of
the hemp fiber tube was close to the carbon fiber tube which had a SEA value of 55.7 J/g. By increasing
the fiber volume fraction content of the bio-composite structures, the SEA was evidently improved.

2.4. Bio-inspired structures

Many EACS investigated by good number of researchers have been inspired by the energy absorbing
behaviour of plants and animals. These bio-mimetic structures can be referred to as bio-inspired energy
absorbing composite structures (BIEACS). Some common BIEACS from plants and animals are shown in
Figs. 3 and 5, respectively.

2.4.1. Plant-inspired structures

Plant-inspired structures that have been mimicked to produce energy absorbing structures include the date
palm leaf [34], bamboo structure [56], coconut tree [142], pomelo peel [143] and caster plant [144]. Fig. 3
illustrates some of these plants and their corresponding mimetic structures used as energy absorbers. Some
researchers, for example, Liu et al. [145] proposed bio-inspired composite tubes based on the bamboo
multi-cell structure. The material of choice was the CFRP composite. They compare the bio-inspired CFRP
tube with the bio-inspired aluminium tube (i.e. as illustrated in Fig. 4) using the same parametric, loading
conditions and structural arrangement. Their experimental result showed higher values of SEA and other
crashworthiness indicators of the CFRP multi-cell tubes over the metallic multi-cell tubes. Moreover, the
single, double and triple cells of the CFRP tubes were also compared with one another. Amongst these
three samples, the authors reported the CFRP double cell configuration showed the highest value of SEA.

a b

c d
Fig. 3. Plant features and their BIEACS (a) date palm leaf [34] (b) bamboo with its multi-cell structure [56]
(c) coconut tree geometry, analytical configuration and finite element model, respectively [142] (d) pomelo
fruit with its hierarchical honeycomb structure [143].

Fig. 4. Comparison between bio-inspired multi-cells CFRP and aluminium tubes [145]

A number of bending and fracture mechanisms such as fiber buckling, matrix cracking with bending and
breaking, can be attributed to the coconut fruit. Inspired by these attributes, Lu et al. [146] also proposed
bio-inspired CFRP based on coconut multi-layer and multi-scale structure which can be found in its
organized pericarp and disorganized mesocarp. Their investigation revealed the potentials of coconut
features such as the fiber arrangement of bio-inspired structures. There are other researchers worth citing
who have been inspired by plant features to produce energy absorbers made from composites [147, 148].

2.4.2. Animal-inspired structures

In recent years, highly efficient energy absorbers have been fabricated by researchers, drawing their
inspiration from the energy absorbing nature of animals and humans. Some of these animal and human
features that have been mimicked to produce animal/human inspired structures are beetle elytra and crab
[149], mantis shrimp [150], human bone [151], balanus [152], turtle shell [153] to mention a few. Fig. 5
depicts some of these animal/human features and their corresponding animal-inspired energy absorbing
structures. The nacre of mollusk shells exhibit high mechanical strength, toughness and crushing resistance.
In recent years, Rizzo et al. [154] proposed a discontinuous CFRP energy absorbing structure based on the
 nacre exoskeleton. In their investigation, impact energy absorption was increased by about 67%. The result
of their findings showed the promises nacre exoskeleton-inspired structure has in the industrial sector
where impact toughness and high performance are indispensably desired. Another work inspired by the
nacre design was studied by Xin et al. [155]. The authors also used CFRP with continuous and
discontinuous fibers to obtain the SEA of the honeycomb structure. They reported a higher SEA value of
62 kJ/kg for the discontinuous specimen over the continuous specimen with SEA value of 41 kJ/kg. Many
honeycomb EACS have also been inspired by beetle which has an elytron that protects its body [156]. The
internal structure of the elytra contains numerous honeycombs which have been mimicked intentionally or
unintentionally by several researchers to produce energy absorbing structures [157 - 160]. Du and Hao
[161] used the beetle species to investigate the microstructural arrangement of the elytra. In their study,
they observed the staking arrangement sequence of 0˚/ 60˚/-30˚/ 30˚/-60˚/ 0˚/90˚/-30˚/60˚/-60˚. It follows
that more research can be carried out on composite structures that mimic this stacking sequence. It is
observed that more investigation of crashworthiness performance of bio-inspired metallic honeycomb tubes
have been investigated than for bio-inspired composite honeycomb structures. Therefore, research effort
should be intensified towards the application of bio-inspired composite structures and their hybrids. Further
reading on bio-inspired structures for crashworthiness application can be found in the critical review of San
Ha and Lu [13].

a b

c
d e

Fig. 5. Animal features with their inspired energy absorbing structures (a) beetle elytra and crab - inspired
by their hard composite skin [149] (b) mantis shrimp – inspired by its multi-layer structure [150] (c) human
bone - inspired by its crash-box structure [151] (d) balanus - inspired by its conical structure [152] (f) turtle
shell - inspired by its hard composite skin [153].

2.5. Functionally graded structures

2.5.1. Functionally graded composite materials

Functionally graded composite materials (FGCM) for crashworthiness application are emerging with
promising potentials of producing highly efficient energy absorbing structures. Crushing tubes can be
fabricated by combining two or more properties of different composite materials to form a single energy
absorbing graded component. The graded structure not only has lightweight property but also strong
bonding as well as less concentration of stresses due to the smooth variations of the properties at their
interface. The gradual change in the unit cell enhances the bonding strength, ensures progressive failure
mode during crushing and improves the overall crashworthiness performance of the energy absorber. The
application of FGCM is, therefore, a good way of reducing crack in composite structures. Moreover, It
turns also to be very useful for vibration and noise isolation and thus can be used as a material for devices
casing, aiming at reduction of vibration and noise transmitted in the crash casing. However, with all these
benefits of FGCM, there is a dearth of study in the use of this type of graded materials for energy
absorbers. A possible reason for this may be the challenge of combining two or more irreconcilable or
incompatible properties of composite materials to form a single material type. Most research works have,
therefore, proposed metallic materials with functional graded thickness (FGT) [162] and functionally
graded foams (FGF) [163]. It should be pointed out that FGT of metallic alloys have been classified as a
special type of composite materials obtained when molten metals undergo melt infiltration to produce
graded preform of different shapes [164].

2.5.2. Functionally graded thickness, foams and honeycombs

The grading of these tubes can also be done along the diameter or width and even in their material
properties. Promising efforts in developing graded structures along the thickness of the tubes or by filling
the tubes with graded materials such as foams and honeycomb have been combined. For example, Sun et
al. [165] used FGF fillers to fill thin-walled tubes such that the density of the foam is graded along its
depth. The gradient parameter indexes of the foam were studied and the results showed that these indexes
had significant influence on the crushing performance of the tube. Moreover, the overall crushing
performance of the FGF filled tube showed significant improvement over the uniform foam filled tube.
More investigation was performed by Zhang et al. [166]. They introduced gradient in both the thickness
and material properties of honeycomb. The authors proposed an ascending and descending graded patterns.
Their findings revealed better promises the ascending graded pattern has over the descending one. They
adduced the differences in results of these two graded patterns to their varied initial elastic responses.
Moreover, in general, the graded pattern tubes showed more enhancements in the SEA than the
conventional uniform honeycomb tubes. In a more recent study, Pang et al. [167] compared the crushing
performance of axially-varying thickness of a multi-cell structure with uniform thickness multi-cell
structure. Their results showed a reduction in the initial peak crushing load as well as an enhancement in
the EAC of the former than the latter with the same structural mass. In another study, Mohammadiha et al.
[168] proposed a double ascending pattern and double descending pattern of functionally graded
honeycomb structure. They also obtained an optimized energy absorbing functionally graded honeycomb
crash box structure. The results of their finding revealed that the double ascending gradient pattern at an
oblique impact of 5˚ produced the highest SEA when compared to that of the double descending gradient
pattern at the same impact loading condition. Other wall thickness variation energy absorber that has been
investigated is the tailor rolled blank [169]. This type of graded structural design was reported to have
higher bending resistance and consequently, enabling it to absorb more energy during crushing [170].

Fig. 6. Schematic representation of combined functionally graded structure (a) functionally graded
honeycombs (b) functionally graded thickness (c) double functionally graded tube (DFG) [173].

Both the thickness of the tube and the thickness of the filler material can be tailored into designing graded
materials for specific application. Zhang et al. [171] named this type of structures as double functionally
graded (DFG) tube. The authors compared three configurations namely: DFG, single functionally graded
(SFG) and uniform foam and thickness (UFT). Their results indicated the highest capacity of energy
absorption in the DFG tubes. Further investigation was carried out on four different DFG with respect to
their convex and concave gradient pattern and their results were compared with one another. They reported
that the combination of convex gradient pattern (i.e. convex-convex gradient pattern) enhanced the SEA of
the DFG while the combination of the concave gradient pattern (i.e. concave-concave gradient pattern)
lowered the SEA. Similar design of the DFG structure was proposed and optimized by Fang et al. [172].
They also observed the ascending graded pattern of the DFG and reported their superiority performance
over the UFT tubes. In a different investigation, Zhu et al. [173] combined functionally graded thickness
and functionally graded honeycombs to obtain a DFG as shown in Fig. 6. In their investigation, they
studied why the DFG configurations were more promising than the single functionally graded
configurations and the uniform honeycomb filled uniform thickness configurations. Their findings showed
that the DFG configurations subjected to several oblique impact loadings had more resistance to bending
than their counterparts.
In the aforementioned investigation of FGT and FGF, most of the material used for the former was
aluminium alloy while polymeric foam and metallic honeycomb have been used for the latter. Few notable
authors [174-176] have followed this trend. The graded rectangular tube thickness or filler can be either
longitudinal or lateral as illustrated in Fig. 7(a) while for circular tube geometry, the graded diameter have
been patterned axially or radially as also illustrated in Fig. 7(b). In the investigation of Zhang et al. [177]
on the crushing response of bi-graded circular tubes, the direction of grading was reported to have great
influence on the deformation pattern of the tube. It should be noted that sea urchin and bio-composite
structure such as bamboo are attributed to have functionally graded characteristics [13, 178, 179] as
discussed in the previous section. More graded bio-mimetic energy absorbing structures should, therefore,
be investigated to evaluate their crushing responses and performance. For further reading, Xu et al. [180]
has provided additional detailed review of functionally graded structures.

a b

Fig. 7. Schematic illustration of different graded patterns (a) single and double functional graded tubes,
respectively [171] (b) bi-graded axial and radial patterns, respectively [177].

2.6. Hybrid energy absorbing structures

As described in the previous section, the FGM involves the grading of different material properties to form
a single functional structure. Hybrid materials on the hand entails the fusing or joining together of two or
more different materials to form new hybrid part. One of the reasons for hybridization is to optimize the
properties of the different materials for specific application. The correct proportion of non-metallic or/and
metallic materials combined with synthetic or/and natural composites can, therefore, produced highly
desirable energy absorbing structures. Hybrid composite structures, for example, composite-metal hybrid
structure, can benefit from the combined advantage of higher specific strength and stiffness of the
composite as well as toughness of the metal. The crushing performance of hybrid composite structures has
shown greater superiority over their non-hybrid counterparts. Different hybridization strategies have been
adopted for the fabrication of efficient energy absorbers. For instance, hybridization strategy of fusing
metal and composite materials, composite and composite materials, FGM and composite materials; and
metals with FGM, have been investigated by a staggering number of researchers. In this section, various
hybrid combinations are herewith discussed.

2.6.1. Metal and composite hybrid structures

The crushing response of these types of hybrid tubes usually produces plastic deformation for the metal
tube and a form of progressive crushing for the composite tube [181, 182]. A good number of
contemporary authors have proposed different morphological configurations, arrangements and
optimization strategies of energy absorbing metal-composite hybrid structures [183, 184]. Metal laminates
sandwiched with composite or composite laminates sandwiched with metal and forming energy absorbing
structures have been referred as fiber-metal laminates [185, 186]. For metal/composite hybrid tubes, an
investigation was carried out by Zhu et al. [45] to compare their crashworthiness performance. The authors
combined an aluminium (Al) tube with a CFRP tube to obtain different configurations (i.e. H-I, H-II and
H-III) and these configurations were subjected to quasi-static crushing. The crashworthiness performance
of Al bare tubes, CFRP bare tubes and Al/CFRP hybrid tubes was obtained. In their result, it was seen that
the Al/CFRP hybrid tube whose configurations were indicated by H-I produced the best crushing
performance. The H-I configuration was an Al tube internally filled with CFRP tube. Moreover, the CFRP
tube internally filled with Al tube (i.e. H-II configuration) was 11% less than each individual Al and CFRP
bare tubes in energy absorption. This result makes the H-II configuration less promising for energy
absorption application. Also, hybrid tube formed by placing the CFRP tube between two Al tubes (i.e. H-
III configuration) showed slightly higher energy absorption than each individual Al and CFRP bare tubes.
However, the SEA value of H-III configuration was lower than H-I and H-II configurations. In a further
investigation by the research team, the hybrid tube with H-I configuration was reported to save a net cost of
production by 32% than the CFRP tube and 33.6% weight reduction compared to that of Al tube. In
general, the investigation portrayed clearly the cost implication and the importance of structural placement
order of individual hybrid part during the production of hybrid energy absorbers.

Another investigation of the crushing response of metal-composite hybrid tube was carried out by Reuter
and Tröster [187]. The hybrid materials of choice were also Al and CFRP hybrid tubes. In their study, four
types of configuration with different lay-ups were investigated. They classified the configurations as pure
Al, pure CFRP, quasi-isotropic and hybrid tube. The CFRP was wrapped to the Al to obtain the hybrid
tube. All tubes were subjected to the same loading conditions. The results of their investigation indicated a
higher SEA value of the CFRP/Al hybrid tube over the pure Al tube. However, the SEA value of CFRP/Al
hybrid tube was lower than both the pure CFRP tube and the quasi-static isotropic CFRP tubes. This result
also agrees with that obtained by [45] where the CFRP tube was internally filled with Al tube. Therefore, to
obtain better EAC and SEA values of CFRP/Al hybrid tube over pure CFRP and pure Al tubes, it is
suggested that the CFRP tube can be wrapped externally by the Al tube.

Apart from the authors [188, 189] who have investigated this form of metal/composite hybrid structures,
further reading on these kinds of structures subjected to axial or/and oblique loading conditions can be
found in the more recent works published by several reputable authors [186, 190-192]. Furthermore, for
metal/composite hybrid structures, their bending collapse behaviour is also another very important loading
condition for energy absorption [193]. In a more recent investigation, Huang and Zhang [194] proposed a
quadruple-cell aluminium/CFRP hybrid structure and investigated both their bending collapse and
crashworthiness characteristics. The authors used both quasi-static and dynamic 3-point bending test on
pristine aluminium tubes and aluminium/CFRP hybrid tubes with various wrapping angles. Their results
showed significant effect on the bending resistance, fracture delay of CFRP and SEA of the tubes with
increased wrapping angles. For instance, it was reported that with partial wrapping of the hybrid tubes,
about 7.9% increase of SEA can be achieved more than the completely wrapped pristine aluminium tubes.
In a similar quasi-static and dynamic bending test investigated by Huang et al. [195], pristine aluminium,
neat CFRP and their aluminium/CFRP hybrid were investigated for both single and multi-cells. In the
results of their study, the aluminium tube enhanced by the CFRP evidently increased in bending resistance
by 41%. Also, by partially wrapping the aluminium with CFRP, the SEA value increased by 11%. Finally,
it was reported that in all cases, the crushing performance of the hybrid multi-cell structures were higher
than their single-cell structures.

2.6.2. Non-metal and composite hybrid structures

Generally, non-metals are characterized by poor mechanical strength and stiffness. These make them
unattractive to researchers and thus, their seldom use in the production of energy absorbers for
crashworthiness application. However, non-metals such as carbon and its allotropes i.e. graphite and
graphene (a newly emerging material with excellent mechanical, electrical and thermal properties), have
been combined with synthetic FRP to form energy absorbing hybrid structures [196, 197]. Their relatively
high strength advantages over many non-metals to produce energy absorbing hybrid structures have not
been fully explored. Only a modicum of studies has been conducted to understand their potentials for
energy absorbing hybrid structures. For example, Kowsika et al. [93] combined glass-graphite with epoxy
resin to obtain an energy absorbing composite hybrid beam. Using similar materials as [93], Stoddard et al.
[198] investigated the energy absorption of the hybrid structure under high strain rate. Future studies based
on the advantages and shortcomings of using graphene and graphite is, therefore, required to advance the
field of crashworthiness especially for the production of energy absorbers.

2.6.3. Natural and synthetic hybrid structures

2.6.3.1. Bio-composites hybrid structures

The combination of two natural composite to produce hybrids of composite tubes is very rare. Very few
numbers of investigations have been carried out on energy absorption of hybrid bio-composites. Mahdi et
al. [40] performed experiment to study the failure mode of conical hybrid bio-composites. Two different
fiber materials - oil palm and coir fibers were combined with polyester matrix. Also, two different
structural concepts were proposed by the authors. In concept one, the upper and the lower part of the
conical tube were made of oil palm/polyester and coir /polyester, respectively. In concept two, the reverse
was the case. The concept one hybridization technique resulted in higher EAC than concept two. Also, the
failure mode of the bio-composites hybrid structures was reported to change to non-catastrophic.

2.6.3.2. Synthetic-composites hybrid structures

The common hybridization of this form is combining CFRP tube and GFRP tube to give CFRP-GFRP
hybrid tube. Ghafari-Namini and Ghasemnejad [199] stitched both CFRP and GFRP together and
investigated how these hybrid materials affect the energy absorption and crushing performance of the
composite box structure. They showed how stitching of these two synthetic composites have the potential
to increase the interlamnar fracture toughness. However, there was no necessary improvement of energy
absorption of the stitched composite boxes than the non-stitched ones. With increased stitching of
composite box, it was observed that the CFE and EAC increased more than the unstitched boxes. Ab Ghani
and Mahmud [200] made successful attempt by combining GFRP and CFRP composite to produce a
hybridized tube. They studied the effect of shear deformation of the hybrid structure. The configurations
utilized were three, five and six GFRP laminate lay-up sandwiched by CFRP laminates. Their results
showed a promising effect of the elongation, strain and interfacial bonding of the hybrid structure
compared to the non-hybrid ones. Also, with increased laminates of GFRP, the shear modulus increased
and consequently increased the strength of the interfacial region.

2.6.3.3. Bio- synthetic composites hybrid structures

 Albahash et al. [201] proposed jute fiber composite combined with kevlar and glass/epoxy composite to
give circular and square hybrid structures. The jute-kevlar/epoxy composite hybrid structure gave
improved EAC of about 17.8 % and enhanced SEA of about 25% in the case of circular tube. Moreover,
for square geometrical configuration, the hybrid structure also resulted in enhanced SEA and EAC of about
59% and 63%, respectively. In a more recent study, Baker et al. [47] investigated the crushing performance
of kenaf-glass/epoxy composite hybrid tube. The authors compared the bio-synthetic composite hybrid
tubes with synthetic composite ones (i.e. glass/epoxy composite tubes). They reported four failure
mechanism which are fiber/resin fracturing, local bucking, brittle fracturing and delamination. Their result
also revealed a 68% rise in EAC of the hybrid over the glass/epoxy composite tubes. However, the GFRP
tube showed higher SEA and lower peak load values than the hybrid tubes.

2.7. Composite sandwich structures

Composite energy absorbers have also been designed in form of sandwich structures. The motivation
behind this form of design is the potential of having a lightweight and high strength structure. Their
application in cars and other road vehicles help to reduce the overall weight and thus, improve the vehicle’s
fuel economy. The sandwich composite structure comprises of two parallel lightweight panels (i.e. also
called the face sheets) of any shape bounded by a core [11]. The core can be architecturally supported with
polymeric foams [48] or metallic foams [202,203] to further improve crushing performance of the energy
absorbing sandwich device. For example, with metallic foams support, Sun et al. [203] used closed-cell
aluminium uniform/graded foam cores and various facesheets/panels to investigate their blast resistance
under dynamic impact. Some of these research individuals had previously combined with other researchers
[204] to investigate the energy absorption and damage morphology of sandwich panels with graded
aluminium foam cores and aluminium panels subjected to low velocity impact. In their findings, it was
reported that the density gradients of the graded foam core have significant influence on the deformation
and failure characteristics of the incident panel. Recently, metallic foams have been arranged in the form of
honeycombs [205, 206].

Also, by using polymeric foam support, Tarlochan and Ramesh [48] investigated the crushing performance
of tubular composite sandwich structure. The materials used were carbon and glass fiber with an epoxy
resin and expanding polystyrene foam (EPS). In another investigation, using only glass fiber with epoxy
resin and EPS, Tarlochan et al. [35] studied the crushing behaviour of sandwich circular tubes with
different configurations as shown in Fig. 8(a). The GFRP composite tubes with varying tube thickness
were sandwiched with EPS foams to obtain various configurations as shown in Fig. 8(b). It was observed
that the configuration with equal tube thickness of the composite tubes and having the inner and outer cores
filled with the EPS foam gave the best crashworthiness performance. Also, the tube thickness played a
major role in influencing the crushing performance of the composite sandwich structure. For instance, in
spite of filling the tube cores with foams, it was evident that the two composite sandwich tubes with the
least thickness gave the lowest SEA and CFE. The authors also demonstrated the significant improvement
of crushing performance by increasing the number of plies of the composite tubes.

a b
Fig. 8. Illustration of sandwich GFRP circular tubes (a) exploded model (b) various configurations
sandwiched with expanded polystyrene foam [35].

Apart from filling the core with metallic or polymeric foams, the core can also be architecturally supported
with composite laminates or structures. An example of this type was proposed by Malcom et al. [72]. In
their design, a corrugated E-glass three weaved laminate was placed in the core of a S2-glass face-sheet.
The E-glass laminates were kevlar stitched at each corrugated end of the face-sheet. Inside the core were
also foams. In general, their findings showed that the EAC of the corrugated sandwiched structure was
higher than that of the sum of the foam and empty core. In a more recent study, Sarvestani et al. [207] also
proposed a state of the art 3-D printed composite sandwich structure. The authors utilized a polyactic acid
biopolymer to manufacture both the face-sheets and the various architectural cores for both in-plane and
out of plane direction as shown in Fig. 9(a). The structures were subjected to low and high velocity impact
loading conditions using the impact test machine as illustrated in Fig. 9(b). During the crushing impact test,
the authors observed a low density auxetic sandwich core configuration to be more suitable under low
energy impact while high density auxetic sandwich core configuration was more suitable under high
velocity impact. In their conclusion, applying the correct sandwich core configuration can result in higher
energy absorption and can be achieved at a minimum response force.

Other researcher who have employed this form of composite sandwich structures as energy absorbers are
Chatterjee et al. [208] for ballistic impact application and Vcelka et al. [209] who applied it to the
deformation of beams by face identification under quasi-static loading condition. Bio-inspired sandwich
structures have also been recently applied for energy absorption purpose [210-213].

a b

Fig. 9. Representation of sandwich composite design and impact loading condition (a) additive
manufactured sandwich panels with different architectural cellular core designs (b) low velocity crushing
of sandwich panels using drop weight machine [207].
2.8. Nano-composite structures

Nano-composite materials have been employed as potential candidate for the fabrication of energy
absorbing structures. The reinforcement of nano-phase particles with synthetic composite to form energy
absorbing structure has been shown to enhance their crushing characteristics and mechanical behaviour.
Nano-particles such as nanoclay, graphene, carbon nanotubes (CNT) and nanoplatelets are typically
utilized for crashworthiness application. Nano-clays are silicate layers originally transformed by the
exchange of cation such as sodium ion with alkyl ammonium ion [214]. It was shown by Aymericha et al.
[86] that by reinforcing nanoclay with glass/epoxy laminate, an approximate 30% increase in energy
absorption with a 10%-15% decrease of peak load was obtained over the conventional laminate. In another
study, Velmurugan and Balaganesan [215] introduced nanoclay particles to glass fiber/epoxy laminate
composite and subjected the structure to quasi-static impact. Schematic representation of different
structural mixing of the nanoclay/GFRP is depicted in Fig. 10(a). Also, the effect of dynamic impact on
tubes mixed and unmixed with nanoclay can be seen in Fig. 10(b) and Fig. 10(c), respectively. In their
investigation, it was observed that the incorporation of nanoclay to the GFRP composite not only protected
the GFRP from failure, but also enhanced the stiffness as well as the energy absorption in both quasi-static
and dynamic impact conditions.

In a different study, both nanocarbon and nanotubes were used by Ulus et al. [216] and the effects of
nanoparticle modification under low velocity impact of CFRP were analysed. The results of their findings
indicated that nanoparticles incorporation to the CFRP composite have the potential of increasing both the
strength and the percentage strain to fracture. The damage mechanisms were evidently controlled which of
course showed promises in nanoparticle modification. Another experimental study was performed by Al-
Lafi et al. [217] using polycarbonate and multi-walled CNT to ascertain their impact strength, failure
energy and fracture toughness under low and high velocity impact loading conditions. The maximum load
and the impact failure energy rose up to 320% and 350%, respectively when 1 wt% of the multi-walled
CNT was added to the polycarbonate. Moreover, at a very high strain rate, an approximate 25% and 15%
increase in the yield stress and energy absorption, respectively, was achieved more than the polycarbonate
matrix. However, their report showed more number of crack formation in the polycarbonate nano-
composite as observed by their decreased density. They suggested that during the manufacture of
polymeric nano-composites, it is important to use reinforcement nanofillers with low thermal conductivity.
Prominent researchers who have also employed the use of nanoparticles and nanofillers for energy
absorbing composite structures include Silva et al. [36] and other researchers [91,218-225]. Their
contributions are summarized in Table 6. Finally, hybrid nano-composites are promising materials that can
be utilized to produce very efficient energy absorbing structures especially in the automotive and aerospace
industries [226].

b c
Fig. 10. (a) Different structural chain arrangement of polymer and nanoclay [215]. Fractured surface of 3-
layer laminate subjected to dynamic impact loading condition of 85 m/s for structures [215] (b) without
nanoclay (c) with a 4% nanoclay.

Table 6
Summary of selected research on nano-composite structures for crashworthiness application.

Author Composition of nano- Result highlight Reference

composite structure
Silva et al. Glass/polypropylene, - Significant increase in SEA for [36]
polyamide 6/nanosilica glass/polyamide 6/nanosilica particle.
particle, montmorillonite - Decrease in property with the addition of
montmorillonite.
- A little increase in EAC with
glass/polypropylene/nanosilica particle.

Sachse et al. Glass/polyamide, - Improvement of EAC for both [91]

polypropylene/ glass/polypropylene/nanoclay foams (66%-
nonaclay/polyurethane 92%) and glass/polyamide/nanoclay foams
foam (23%-34%).

Elmarakbi et al. carbon/graphene epoxy - Curing rate and viscosity increased with [218]
and graphene/epoxy the addition of graphene flakes.

Pramanik et al. Graphite, CTBN/ vinyl - Addition of exfoliated graphite [219]

ester/nano-composite nanoplatelets improved the EAC.
- No significant improvement in EAC with
the addition of carboxyl terminated
butadiene nitrile (CTBN).

Pushparaja et al. Carbon/epoxy/ nanoclay - Nanoclay enhanced EAC of CFRP [220]

laminate.
- Less delamination area observed with
CFRP/nanoclay than pure CFRP.

Esfahani et al. E-glass/polyester/ - Mechanical properties of nano-composite [221]

nanoclay structures varied for different nanoclay
contents.

Balaganeshan et al. Glass/epoxy/ nanoclay - EAC of laminate increased with nanoclay [222]
and carbon nanotubes and CNT.
- Higher perforation resistance with nano-
composite laminates than those without
nanofillers.
- Nanoclay dispersion resulted in increased
delamination area during crushing.
Haro et al. Kevlar/polyethylene - Nano fillers with effective coating of [223]
glycol, epoxy/ silica-, fiber fabric and sealing of voids produced
alumina-nanofillers more promising EAC than those not
capable of sealing the voids.
- Addition of nano fillers generally
resulted in the improvement of EAC for the
hybrid laminates.

Rudresh et al. Glass-carbon/polyamide - Tensile, flexural and stiffness decreased [224]

66, due to combined effect of micro- and nano-
polytetrafluoroethylene/ fillers.
alumina-nano/micro - Impact strength significantly improved
fillers with combined effect of micro- and nano-
fillers.
- Mechanical failure was attributed to fiber
pull out, fracture, and filler clustering
together.

Tessema et al. Carbon/matrix resin/ - Nanoparticles are more significant with [225]
silica-nanofillers higher loading rates.
- Poisson ratio decreased in the
nanocomposite laminate than the pristine
laminate.
- Shear modulus and shear strength
significantly improved in the nano-
composite laminate than those without
nanoparticles.

2.9. Sound absorbing fibrous structures

Fibrous materials such as natural fibers, synthetic fibers, nanofibers etc., as already mentioned in the
previous subsections, have been recently shown to be promising materials for acoustic energy absorption
[227]. Apart from the good energy absorption characteristics fibrous energy absorbing structures exhibit
during crash incident, their application could also extend to include vibration control and noise reduction
especially for crashworthiness application in low and mid-frequency regions [228]. For instance, these
crushing structures made from fibrous material are not only environmentally friendly, they can also serve
as protection during crash scenario and concurrently be used as vibration control as well as noise reduction
during their cycle life. Sound transmission losses have been reported to increase with fibrous materials
[229,230]. Moreover, these fibrous structures can favourable replace their metallic counterparts that have
been commonly used in vibration, passive and active acoustic noise control [231-234].

3. Fabrication methods and syntheses approach of EACS

Selecting a manufacturing processing technique of EACS depends largely on their specific application
needs which are also influenced by criteria such as cost of production, strength of the material, rate of
production and the geometry of the part to be fabricated. The geometry of the fabricated part has significant
influence not only on the failure modes but also on the overall crushing performance of the EACS. Table 7
gives a summary of the effect of geometrical shapes and sizes on the crushing behaviour of EACS. Only
the maximum crashworthiness indexes such as the SEA and EA are given in the table. Moreover, the
strength of each composite manufactured part is a function of the type, length, orientation and content of
the fiber. Longer or continuous fibers have higher stiffness and strength than the shorter ones. A number of
manufacturing techniques have been utilized to produce both thermosetting and thermoplastics EACS.
 Table 8 lists and summarises the merits and demerits of the commonly used fabrication techniques of
EACS. The following subsections further mention the commonly used fabrication techniques of energy
absorbers investigated by some contemporary researchers.

Table 7
Effect of geometrical shapes and dimensions on the crushing performance of various energy absorbers
subjected to quasi-static (Q-S) and dynamic (D-M) loading conditions.

Circular Square Conical Hexagonal Circular Square Rectangular Hexagonal Semi hexagonal
tube tube tube honeycomb tube laminate laminate laminate tube section

Composite Geometry and structural dimension in millimetres (mm) Max. crushing

parameters
Fiber/matrix Shape Length Width / Thickness height Loading SEA EA Reference
diameter condition (kJ/kg) (kJ)
Carbon/ - 50 2.65 50 Q-S 95.7 [57]
Aramid/epoxy
Carbon/epoxy 25 25 1.5 70.1 Q-S 76.8 [113]
Carbon/epoxy 100 100 3 - D-M [235]
Carbon/epoxy 50 50 2.1 50 Q-S 78 1.99 [ 236]
Carbon/epoxy/ 250 25 3.08 Q-S 1.67 [ 237]
polyurethane
Carbon/epoxy 76.2 76.2 9.7 Q-S - - [104]
Woven jute/epoxy 22.1 3.6 100 Q-S 33.2 1.81 [ 46]
Carbon/Polyamide 6 60 10 2 Q-S 120.8 0.088 [238]
Woven carbon/epoxy - 60 1.28 135 Q-S 19.01 3.35 [103]
Carbon/epoxy 22 1.7 27 Q-S 53.9 [105]
Flax/epoxy 36, 81, 36, 54, 82 Q-S 41 [239 ]
164
E-glass/epoxy - 47 (base) 5.52 95.5 Q-S 17.42 1.06 [122]
78.6 (top)
Glass/polyamide 100 3 250 D-M 11.0 44.83 [240]
Glass/epoxy - 50 3 125 Q-S, 82.0 7.78 [123]
D-M
Glass/polyester - 57 2 60 Q-S 52.0 0.79 [241]

Glass/epoxy 250 30 3 Q-S - 0.0032 [242]

Glass/epoxy - 50 3 125 D-M 60.19 [117]
Glass/epoxy 100 100 2 Q-S, 3.0 0.032 [118]
D-M
Flax/polyurethane - 64 3 95 Q-S 37.9 3.40 [243]
Ramie/bio-epoxy 80 80 4.5 50 Q-S 15.8 2.09 [53]
Kenaf/epoxy 116 (base) 9 230 Q-S 38.9 [59]
158 (top)
Flax/polypropylene 125 12.7 3 - Q-S, 0.032 [140]
D-M
Jute/flax/hemp/epoxy 14(base) 3 123 Q-S, 64.46 0.57 [141]
64(top) D-M
Glass/carbon/epoxy - 62.5 1.8 80.13 Q-S 50.25 0.762 [244]
Glass/graphite/epoxy 9.6 D-M 1.1 [198]
Glass/epoxy 80.0 3 80.0 Q-S 64.0 [245]
Glass/vinyl ester 700 700 2 - Q-S, 0.012 [246]
D-M
S-glass/polyester 150 100 4.5 - Q-S, 0.018 [120]
D-M
Carbon/epoxy 40 3 D-M [247]
Glass/epoxy 32 4 130 Q-S 32.35 6.27 [35 ]
E-glass/epoxy 100 100 16.5 D-M - - [58]
Carbon/epoxy 300 40 51.8 Q-S 0.611 0.11 [209]

Basalt/epoxy 20 10.1 70 Q-S 30.68 0.92 [248]

Carbon/epoxy 63.5 63.5 1.65 88.9 Q-S 60.0 [249]
Carbon/vinylester - - - 120, 355 Q-S, 71.0 [250]
D-M
Carbon/glass/epoxy - 50 3.3 150 D-M 66.0 [251]
Glass/polypropylene - 114.5 3.3 250 Q-S, 39.1 10.3 [252]
D-M
Silk/epoxy 80 80 4.2 120 Q-S 12.0 1.0 [253]
Carbon/epoxy 102 152 4.2 - D-M 0.0056 [254]
Kenaf/epoxy 8.5 100 Q-S 9.2 [54]

Table 8
Comparison of different fabrication techniques utilized for the production of composite energy absorbers.

Fabrication Merit Demerit/challenge

Technique
Hand lay-up - Promising technique for producing energy - Not suitable for high volume production
absorbers made from green composites. - Could take longer period of curing time.
- No special skill is required for mastering the - High tendencies of introducing voids.
process. - Health and safety of workers could be
- More than 60% FVF can be achieved with compromised if not properly handled
much longer fiber size. during fabrication process.
- Cheap fabrication process with low tooling
cost.
- Very rigid and strong composite parts can be
produced with careful handling.

Vacuum assisted - Could achieve up to 70% FVF. - Tooling cost is expensive.

resin transfer - Low material wastage with accurate
moulding dimension part being produced.
(VARTM) - Technique/process can further improve the
lightweight quality of the EACS.
- Can be used to produce large component
parts.
- Utilizes wide varieties of fiber materials.

Filament winding - Initial even distribution of fiber
reinforcement and matrix resin.
- Flexibility in laying down fiber
reinforcements at exact orientation on the
mandrel.
- Very suitable for high volume production.
- Only suitable for curved, circular or
cylindrical shapes.
- Cost of mandrel could be very expensive.
- Parts which requires low fiber angle (i.e.,
0° to 15°) are difficult to fabricate.
- Can only attain a maximum of
approximately 60% FVF.

Bladder - Very efficient in fabricating complex or - It sometimes requires additional cost in

moulding irregular shapes. autoclave process or some complex tooling
- Can be adapted to achieve very high FVF. that may not be readily available.
- Reduction in void formation.
Pultrusion - Low cost of production i.e., low cost of fiber - Suitable only for parts with regular cross-
and resin. section i.e., very difficult to use this
- Suitable for producing high-volume parts. process for complex and intricate parts.
- Very thin-walled components are
difficult to produce owing to the pultrusion
process.

Autoclave and - Capable of removing void contents, thereby, - May require more skilful operator.
vacuum bagging making room for higher fiber contents. - There is additional bagging cost.
- Further helps in consolidation of parts.

Additive - Mechanical properties of parts fabricated - Longer curing time.

manufacturing through this process can be greatly improved - High proclivity of void formation.
with fiber reinforcement. - Poor reinforcement between fiber and
- An effective means of producing customized matrix.
and complex parts of EACS.

3.1. Hand lay-up

This manufacturing technique is the most commonly used method in the fabrication of energy absorbing
composite tubes partly because they are cheap and the resin in the fabric can be easily distributed. It makes
use of the hand to manipulate composite sheets into their desired shapes. The synthesis involves a manual
process of laying down each ply or layer of a form of reinforcement commonly called prepreg. The prepreg
composes of fibers mixed with resin, packed in tows and the plies can be arranged either in a woven form
or in just a single unidirectional way as illustrated by Bussetta and Correia [255] and depicted in Fig. 11.
Different methods and syntheses used by researchers to form laminates have been elucidated by Elkington
et al. [256]. An appreciable number of researchers have attempted using the hand lay-up techniques to
produce energy absorbing structures made from synthetic fibers such as glass/epoxy [257], S-
glass/polyester [120], kevlar/epoxy [223] and carbon/epoxy [196]. Also, using this fabrication technique,
polymeric matrix has been reinforced with natural fibers to form energy absorbing structures [131, 258].
Thermosetting polymers are mostly used during hand lay-up fabrication process. During this process,
hardeners or curing agents are mixed with the composite according to the manufacturer’s specification to
reduce the curing time and thus increase the production rate. However, some hardeners can be very slow
and may take longer time which could be up to 4-5 hours [223]. Thus, the curing cycle or time depends on
the type of resin material, the geometry of the part and its thickness. A major disadvantage of using this
technique is the tendency to introduce void during the fabrication process. However, by applying a vacuum
bag moulding process, the demerit of using hand lay-up technique can be addressed. The vacuum bag
process ensures the removal of any trapped air [259].

Fig. 11. Composite laminates showing (a) unidirectional composite (b) woven composite [255].
Apart from using the hand prepreg lay-up as illustrated in Fig. 12(a), other similar process such as wet lay-
up and spray-up process also exists; however, they are not commonly used for fabricating energy
absorbers. As aforementioned, further processing of the prepreg can be performed in a vacuum bag and can
also be placed in an oven or autoclave for curing and consolidation of parts [260]. Hosseini and Shariati
[244] experimentally investigated the EAC of GFRP and CFRP composite cylindrical shell. The composite
tubes were manufactured using the vacuum bag moulding process as illustrated in Fig. 12(b). The authors
compared the vacuum bag moulding with the vacuum infusion process and reported that the vacuum
infusion process with more fiber volume fraction had greater inverse relationship between their energy
absorption and fiber volume fraction than those fabricated by vacuum bagging process. In other
investigation, it has been shown that the manufacturing techniques adopted in making composite energy
absorbers can influence their crashworthiness performance [241,261]. Although, in the experiment
performed by Jackson et al. [261] who reported that the manufacturing technique has no influence on the
SEA of the open section CFRP used; however, this was not the case with the open section GFRP utilised
by Esnaola et al. [241]. The authors compared different techniques such as hand lay-up, ultraviolent
pultrusion, ultraviolent intrusion and thermal infusion. It was reported that the SEA value of the GFRP
configuration manufactured by the hand lay-up technique was slightly higher by 6% - 12% than those
fabricated by the ultraviolent pultrusion technique and about 40% - 46% for those manufactured by
infusion technique. Moreover, they also evaluated the interlaminar shear strength and reported similar
results of about 43 MPa for both the GFRP tubes fabricated by hand lay-up and ultraviolent pultrusion,
while those fabricated by thermal infusion gave a value of 33 MPa. They attributed the reduction in value
to the uneven distribution of fibers during the thermal infusion fabrication process.
a b

Fig. 12. Illustration of lay-up processes (a) wet wrapping process by hand lay-up of natural kenaf
fiber/epoxy composite [54] (b) vacuum bagging manufacturing of GRRP and CFRP composite cylindrical
shell [244].

3.2. Vacuum assisted resin transfer/infusion moulding

The vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding (VARTM) and vacuum assisted resin infusion moulding
(VARIM) are used interchangeably to mean the same fabrication technique for thermoset composite
materials. The technique involves a form of pressure difference between the resin supplied and the cavity
known as vacuum bag. The pressure inside the vacuum bag is lower than the ambient pressure while part of
the mould can be replaced by a flexible film. The application of the traditional VARTM has been dated
back since 1950 where it was used for fabricating FRP components [262, 263]. Many researchers have
confused this technique with other similar techniques such as the injection moulding techniques. However,
Hindersmann [264] attempted to differentiate the injection moulding fabrication process and various
infusion moulding processes. Some of the other infusion processes highlighted by the author includes
vacuum assisted differential pressure infusion (VADPI), low pressure resin infusion moulding (LPRM) and
Seeman’s composite resin infusion moulding process (SCRIMP). Others include variable infusion
moulding process (VIMP), controlled atmospheric pressure resin infusion (CAPRI) and modified vacuum
infusion (MVI). Fig. 13 shows schematic illustration of VARTM and VARIM processes that can be used
for fabricating composite tubes.
a

Fig. 13. Schematic illustration of (a) VARTM (b) VARIM [264].

Quite a number of EACS have been developed using this fabrication technique. One of the advantages of
this fabrication process is that it can achieve up to 70% fiber volume fraction (FVF) content [259]. This
means that manufacturers of energy absorbing tubes using this technique can actually test for different FVF
up to 70% and come up with the optimal FVF to be used for specific application. In the meantime, many
studies have utilized a lower FVF of composite structure fabricated by this technique. For example,
Kosmann et al. [242] investigated experimentally the crushing damage effect of fatigue characteristics of
GFRP tube. The GFRP tube was manufacture by VARTM with a fiber volume content of 34.3%. In
another study, McGregor et al. [250] respectively used fiber ratios of 41% and 39% during the fabrication
of circular and square CFRP tubes. The authors subjected the tubes to both quasi-static and dynamic
loading conditions. The crushing response of the different configurations under the two different loading
conditions, differ significantly. It was evident from their experimental result that the greater the fiber
volume fraction content, the higher the SEA. For example, the square CFRP tube with FVF of 41%
produced an average SEA value of 46 J/g more than the round tubes with FVF of 39% which produced a
SEA of 40 J/g. It is clear from the study that irrespective of the geometry of the CFRP tube fabricated by
VARTM, the FVF showed more significant influence on the SEA than the effect of geometrical
configurations.
Using the VARTM, Alia et al. [105] fabricated CFRP composite tube and evaluated their EAC. In the
fabrication procedure, metal mould hexagonal blocks were used for producing the composite honeycomb
cavity. Between the hexagonal blocks, fabric was incorporated in the gap in a vertical position while some
layers of the fabrics were also incorporated to enable it have different fiber volume content. The mould
were placed in a glass mould which was the vacuum bagged inside a film. A process of infusion and curing
was applied which was followed by the removal of the film material. Different number of layers, mass and
fiber orientation of the honeycomb core were investigated. The results showed that the EAC increased to
an optimum value of 46 kJ due to increase in fiber content. However, beyond this maximum EAC result,
additional increase in the fiber contents resulted in a state of plateau, that is, a state where there was no
significant increase in EAC.

Wang et al. [265] proposed different configurations of foam filled GFRP composite tubes which were
manufactured by VARIM. The tubes were subjected to quasi-static crushing at both elevated and high
temperatures. The effect of these two environmental temperatures on the crushing performance of the
tubes was analysed. The temperature was reported to have significant effect in determining the failure
mode of the tubes. Also, it was observed that as the temperature increased, the SEA of the foam-filled
GFRP decreased. However, by reducing the thickness of the GFRP tube and increasing the density of the
foam, higher EAC was achieved.

In another study, carbon/epoxy and carbon/polyurethane composite structures fabricated by the VARTM
process were investigated by Di Benedetto et al. [237]. The authors attested that the proportion of mix ratio
between the resin and curing agent has significant contribution to improving the mechanical properties and
reducing the curing time of the EACS. To further study the effect of curing agent, an investigation of CFRP
plate manufactured by VARTM process – a post curing process was carried out by Chen et al. [266]. The
post curing process was reported to enhance the resin with an opposite influence on the strength of the
mechanism used for the impact test. That is, it made the charpy impact strength to decrease.

3.3. Filament winding

In this fabrication technique, resin-impregnated fiber is winded around a rotating mandrel at a desired fiber
orientation or angle. The designed angle can be obtained by the adjustment of the mandrel’s rotational
velocity. This fabrication method is mostly suitable for the fabrication of cylindrical/circular EACS. The
material most commonly used for syntheses of this process are continuous fibers such as yarn and liquid
resin matrix composite such as epoxy, polyester and vinyl ester. Application of prepregs at the initial stage
of this fabrication process can result in an even distribution of both the fiber and the resin. Heat treatment
or curing can be performed during this process. However, in the investigation conducted by Xu et al. [267],
curing was not included during the filament winding fabrication process. The authors proposed hybrid
composite materials made from carbon, glass and kevlar fibers to fabricate five different circular tube types
with varying fiber orientations. The pristine and hybrid samples were, however, treated under 100˚C at
approximately eight days and the effect of temperature treatment on the crashworthiness performance of
the energy absorber was evaluated under static and dynamic test conditions. The authors also considered
the effect of hybrid ratios, tube thickness and fiber orientation on their SEA. The result of their findings
indicated an average SEA of 98 kJ/kg and 82 kJ/kg under quasi-static and dynamic loading conditions,
respectively of the hybrid carbon/aramid (kevlar FRP) structure which gave the best configuration. Zhou et
al. [246] proposed composite multilayer array structures that comprised of hybrid composite laminate and
filament wound round composite structure. The former was made of hybrid of steel and glass/vinyl ester
resin, while the latter comprised of a solid buoyant core and composite surface winded with filament. The
winded filament was a unidirectional GFRP pregs (with vinylite as resin) and winded at an angle. The
filament-core specimen was cured at room temperature. Finally, they were connected to the steel-GFRP
laminate by screws. The experimental and finite element findings of the multi-layered structures showed
promising results in their EAC and thus, making them promising energy absorbing design for warship
protection under water.

The hybridization of two synthetic composite materials (i.e. carbon FRP and aramid FRP) was studied by
Ma et al. [57]. The hybrid composite tubes were fabricated by the filament winding process and the EAC
was evaluated. The research authors treated the specimens under temperatures of 100˚C and 200˚C at one
hundred, two hundred and four hundred hours. The EAC hybrid carbon/aramid CFRP specimens were
significantly enhanced with temperature treatment compared to those without treatment. Also, as the
treatment period increased, the EAC was reported to improve. However, for carbon/carbon CFRP
specimens, there was no significant increase in the EAC. With three layers, i.e. aramid/carbon/aramid, the
EAC was enhanced more than those with five layers i.e. aramid/carbon/aramid/carbon/aramid. Moreover,
three layered configurations of the same material fiber lay-up i.e. carbon/carbon/carbon FRP specimens
produced higher EAC than three layered configurations of different material fiber lay-up such as the
aramid/carbon/aramid, without temperature treatment. More so, it was concluded that carbon/aramid FRP
specimen with temperature treatment could achieve better energy absorption performance than their
carbon/carbon FRP specimen counterpart. The results of this investigation show that with increased
treatment time, the overall crashworthiness performance of composite tubes fabricated by filament winding
process can be improved.

The effect of winding angles of unsaturated polyester impregnated kenaf fiber onto a rotating mandrel was
investigated by Misri et al. [268]. The authors fabricated rectangular hollow kenaf/polyester composite
using different winding angles of ±90° and ±45°. During the process of fabrication, the speed of the
carriage was seen to reduce the angle of winded yarn fiber on the rotating mandrel. In the summary of their
results, they demonstrated the possibilities and potentials of using natural fiber composite fabricated by
filament winding process. They also reported that the SEA of the natural fiber composite configuration
decreased with increased winding angle. The fabricated energy absorbing tube produced excellent
compressive strength and the tubes fabricated by helical winding exhibited good EAC. Also, they observed
that the material of the mandrel contributed to the improvement of the winded composite tube. A
contemporary study of intraply fiber hybridization on the crashworthiness performance of basalt and glass
FRP was conducted by Özbek et al. [60]. The authors fabricated the fiber using filament winding process at
±40°, ±55° and ±70° winding orientation angles. The results of their finding showed that with decreased
winding angles, the capacity of the EA increased and the efficiency of the crushing force decreased. Also,
it was reported that the SEA and CFE showed best performances and lowest values, respectively from the
tube made from glass fiber than those made from basalt fiber. However, the EAC of FRP made with basalt
was the highest. Moreover, SEA and EAC of the hybrid composite were higher than the basalt FRP tubes
but lesser than the glass FRP tubes. By increasing the glass fiber volume fraction content, better
performance of hybrid composite tubes was being achieved.

The FVF of the composite tube investigated by Sebaey and Mahdi [269] was up to 61.1% with a fiber
orientation of ±56°. The material of choice was a glass/epoxy composite and fabricated by the filament
winding process. The authors investigated the influence of pre-impacts with respect to the number, position
and energy on the post-crushing behaviour of the GFRP tubes. The tubes were first crushed by a charpy
impact machine before they were finally crushed under quasi-static compression loading. The motivation
behind the pre-impact of the GFRP tube was that the tube usually undergo several small impacts during
handling, service or/and maintenance. The authors also reported that the CFE and crush load stability were
improved with increased impact energy and increased number of impacts. However, varying results were
observed with different impact position of the pre-impacted GFRP composite tube. Other notable authors
who have considered the use of filament winding fabrication techniques of energy absorbing composite
tubes are Sun et al [30] and Quanjin et al. [33].
3.4. Bladder moulding

Irregular or complex shapes could become necessary especially when designing energy absorbing
structures around the body frames of vehicles with overlapping edges such as in doors and windows. The
design and production of EACS may, therefore, become challenging using the aforementioned fabrication
techniques. However, the bladder moulding fabrication technique provides a unique way of synthesizing
EACS with complex or irregular geometries to fit specific application. For instance, Liu et al. [39]
investigated the crashworthiness characteristics of a double hat shaped CFRP structure fabricated by the
bladder moulding technique. This moulding process, as illustrated in Fig. 14, basically entailed the
preparation of fiber and resin preforms, then the addition of adhesives to the preforms. After this, the
preforms were placed into the mould where pressure was applied from the inside of the mould using an
inflatable bladder. To provide the needed strength and hardness, the pressured preforms was subjected to
curing within a hot pressing process. During the sample preparation, the FVF was approximately 56%.
Their results indicated a higher SEA value of the double hat shaped CFRP structure than those of the
regular CFRP tubes. It was also reported that the double hat shaped CFRP structure showed stable energy
absorption during axial impact. This fabrication technique can also be used for regular shapes such as
square and circular tubes. In this case, the prepregs can be winded on a mandrel after cutting them and
placing them inside a metal mould [45, 270]. Another similar experiment of fabricating irregular shape of
EACS was performed by Liu et al. [37]. While in the previous experiment, quasi-static impact loading
condition was used, however, the study by [37] subjected the double hat shaped CFRP structure to dynamic
loading condition. They compared the SEA results obtained during the dynamic crash case and the quasi-
static crushing of the double hat shaped CFRP structure. Their results showed that SEA decreased with the
increased impact loading condition. They attributed the difference in SEA results to the material property
of the tube and a reduction in friction of the tube during dynamic crash test.

Fig. 14. Representation of bladder moulding process (a) preparing the preforms (b) pressuring and curing
processes (c) cured sample [39].

In another experimental investigation using aluminium honeycomb-filled CFRP square tube (CFRP/AHC),
Liu et al. [38] also observed that the SEA of the CFRP/AHC tube was lower than the pristine CFRP tube
with the exception of the CFRP/AHC tube having the highest tube thickness of 6mm. However, in all
cases, the EAC of the filled CFRP square tubes was reported to have higher values than the combined
effect of the pristine CFRP and metallic tubes. The authors [271] further investigated the effect of
geometrical modification of the filled CFRP square tubes. The modification involved making perforations
or holes on the tube, fabricated by the bladder moulding process. The authors explained that the SEA
values of the honeycomb-filled CFRP square tube can be further increased when the tube is subjected to
lateral loading than when subjected to lateral bending. A hybrid CFRP sandwich tube fabricated by the
bladder moulding process was proposed by Sun et al. [272]. The sandwich material was aluminium foam
placed between the inner and outer CFRP tube. The crashworthiness to cost performance for different
configurations was evaluated. The authors reported that the EAC of the hybrid sandwiched tubes were
higher than the non-hybrid ones. Also, the cost of the hybrid sandwich tubes increased with increased mass
of the CFRP tubes. Zhu et al. [273] subjected the aluminium/CFRP hybrid tube to quasi-static lateral
crushing. They found out that the pristine aluminium tube produced higher EAC and SEA values than the
pristine CFRP tubes under lateral crushing. Their report showed that the composite tubes gave improved
EAC and SEA than the conventional metallic tubes under quasi-static and dynamic crushing. However, the
authors also reported that the SEA and EAC of the hybrid tubes were higher than the combined effects of
the pristine CFRP and aluminium tubes.

The crushing performance of different samples of metal-composite hybrid structures with varying
configurations and manufactured by the bladder moulding process were investigated by Chen et al. [274].
Also, Wang et al. [275] investigated the crushing performance of aluminium and CFRP hybrid tubes. In
their study, the aluminium and CFRP tubes were fabricated by wire cutting electric discharge and bladder
moulding process, respectively. Different configurations of the hybrid tubes were investigated and the
energy absorption and cost were optimized using both single and multi-objective discrete optimization.
Their results revealed that the hybridization of EACS fabricated by the bladder moulding process have
promising potentials of enhancing the crashworthiness performance and reducing the cost of production.

3.5. Pultrusion

This is a fabrication technique whereby resin-impregnated wet fibers are drawn with the aid of a hot curing
die and thus forming a cost effective regular cross-sectional composite tube. This fabrication process
overcomes one of the major disadvantages (i.e. cost of production) of other fabrication processes that use
prepreg materials. However, products made with prepreg materials give higher FVF than those fabricated
by pultrusion process. Unlike the bladder moulding process that takes care of intricate and irregular shapes,
the pultrusion process is restricted to parts with constant cross-section. This implies that the fiber angle of
pultrusion cannot exceed zero degrees. A good handful of researchers have employed the pultrusion
process to fabricate energy absorbing composite tubes [41,42,276,277]. Othman et al. [44] studied the
crashworthiness characteristics of E-glass FRP composite square tube fabricated by the pultrusion process.
The process basically involves drawing of the fibers through a resin bath and a hot die to wet the fibers and
to obtain the desired shape, respectively. The composite structures was then cured and cut into the desired
sample sizes. Polyurethane foam was filled into the pultruded GFRP tube and was subjected to quasi-static
axial crushing. The authors investigated the influence of foam material on the crushing response of the
pultruded GFRP tube. They reported that the specimen with highest thickness of 3 mm and highest foam
density of 140 kg/𝑚3 produced the highest EAC and SEA values. This result showed that both the EAC
and SEA can be improved using the pultrusion fabrication process provided that the thickness are
increased. However, the loading conditions used for the experiment, the CFE of GFRP tubes were not
significantly improved except with varied foam density which had little incremental effect on the CFE.

In another study, Zhou et al. [278] reinforced an expanded polyvinyl chloride (PVC) foam core with at
least a glass fiber and carbon/glass fiber hybrid composite tubes. Their results buttressed that of [44] in
that, by increasing the density of the foam, the SEA significantly increased. However, the SEA of the
specimen reinforced with CFRP/GFRP hybrid tube showed no significant increase with increased foam
density. On the other hand, it was reported that the foam panel reinforced with GFRP increased steadily in
SEA as the density of the foam increased. It was also pointed out that the increase in strain-rate sensitivity
of the composite tube resulted in the decrease in their capability to absorb energy. In the investigation of
energy absorption capacity carried out by Yang et al. [279], a braided technique, multifilament winding
technique and pultrusion process were used to fabricate braided cover, and unidirectional glass rod,
respectively. The braided cover which served as the face-sheet was winded around the glass rod which
served as the core of the structure. The braided glass fiber cover and the unidirectional glass rod were
mixed with epoxy and unsaturated polyester resins, respectively. The influence of chamfer angles and
multiple rods on the EAC of the rods were studied. They reported that braided glass fiber cover has the
potential of preventing crack from propagating which in turn yielded higher EAC than those without fiber
cover around the rods. Moreover, their result indicated that the braided unidirectional rods chamfered at
45° and separated at a gap of 25 mm between rods produced the best energy absorption performance.

3.6. Other fabrication techniques

Other fabrication techniques not commonly used for the production of EACS include compression
moulding, wrapping and winding, injection moulding, autoclave and vacuum bagging. Contemporary
researchers also applied different fabrication techniques by combining two or more fabrication process to
produce EACS. This form of combination or hybrid fabrication has been employed to meet special
application needs. For example, Zhu et al. [280] employed a winding and bladder moulding processes to
fabricate CFRP square tubes. Ryzińska et al. [281] adopted a combination of hand lay-up and autoclave
processes to fabricate a CFRP tube. Also, Sivagurunathan et al. [46] fabricated circular jute/epoxy
composite using hybrid fabrication method comprising of both the hand lay-up and the compression
bladder moulding processes. Furthermore, Hosseini and Shariati [244] employed the vacuum bag and
vacuum infusion processes to manufacture glass and carbon fibers reinforced epoxy tubes.

The injection moulding is similar to the infusion process. However, the major difference is that, for the
injection process, the injection pressure in the rigid mould is greater than the ambient pressure, while for
infusion process, the pressure in the cavity is lower than the ambient pressure. Also, wrapping process is
similar to prepreg lay-up, however, their difference is that in wrapping process, the tool used are always
cylindrical or round shaped mandrel. For instance, in [123], the prepreg materials were wrapped on the
cylindrical mandrel as shown in Fig. 15. An advantage of using this process is that it is cheap and well
suitable for producing high volume production of EACS.

Fig. 15. Illustration of wrapping process for prepreg material around steel mandrel (a) wrapping stage (b)
finished stage (c) demoulded and cured composite tube [123]

The aforementioned manufacturing methods are best suited for thermosetting composite energy absorbing
structures. Moreover, some of the different fabrication techniques for manufacturing thermosets composite
tubes can also be employed for fabricating thermoplastic composite energy absorbing structures. A unique
feature of manufacturing thermoplastic composite structure is that the processing can occur within few
seconds because the process is basically a physical operation rather than a chemical reaction that takes
place with thermosets composite fabrication process [259]. Böhm et al. [282] numerically and
experimentally investigated the crushing response of thermoplastic composite tube. The material of choice
was glass fiber reinforced polypropylene (GF/PP) composites hybrid with warp yarns. The tubes were
fabricated by vacuum bagging and autoclave processes and subjected to quasi-static and dynamic axial
crushing. The authors reported that the experimental results of SEA were moderate compared to other
energy absorbing thermoset composite and high performance thermoplastics. The reason is because,
polypropylene has a relatively lower mechanical property as can be seen in Table 3. Polypropylene has
been used as both matrix and fiber for EACS. Boria et al. [66] performed an experiment to investigate the
axial crushing response of polypropylene fiber/ polypropylene matrix hybrid with internally reinforced
aluminium tube. Their findings showed that the EAC of the polypropylene tube can be significantly
improved by reinforcing it with metal. However, the hybrid tubes showed slightly higher SEA than the
pristine composite and aluminium tubes.

Polyamide matrix combined with natural and synthetic fibers have been used to produce energy absorbing
structures for crashworthiness application. Zarei et al. [283] proposed crash boxes made from glass
fiber/polyamide composite with a 50% volume fiber and triggering angle of 45° direction. The square
composite boxes were fabricated by a thermoforming method and the hexagonal crash box consisted of two
parts which were joined by welding the fabricated parts together. The crash boxes were subjected to
dynamic crushing and their crashworthiness performances were evaluated. Their results did not show a
distinction between the square and hexagonal composite boxes using the same parametric and loading
conditions. However, they compared the optimum results of the composite crash box with that of the
aluminium tube and reported that both the EAC and weight of the former were 17% more and 26% less,
respectively, than that of the latter. More recently, Striewe et al. [252] conducted both experimental and
numerical investigation of the crashworthiness of a bi-directional weaved glass fiber/polyamide 6
composite. A thermo-forming process was used to produce the thermoplastic composite tubes with FVF of
47% and two fiber orientations of 0° and 90°. The results of their findings indicated that for the 0° fiber
orientation, the SEA, EAC and crush mass of the tube were 24 kJ/kg, 7.3 kJ and 0.4 kg, respectively; while
for the 90° fiber orientation, it was 17 kJ/kg, 7.5 kJ and 0.45 kg, respectively. Higher values of SEA were
evident for the 0° fiber orientation and slightly higher value of EAC was evident for the 90° fiber
orientation. Most recently is the work carried out by Di Benedetto et al. [284] who investigated the
crushing performance of thermoplastic carbon fiber/polyamide 6 composite. The fabrication technique of
the composite tube was explicitly illustrated by the authors. They studied the effect of thermos-oxidative
degradation and reported that it affected the EAC of the thermoplastic composite tube. They proposed
using the Darcy’s law and the Friedman’s iso-conversional technique to obtain an optimized solution of the
energy absorbing thermoplastic composite tube. In another research, the effect of triggering mechanism on
the crashworthiness of carbon fiber/polyamide 6 composite was studied by Ma et al. [238]. Hot
compression fabrication method was used to manufacture the thermoplastic composite tube.

Thermoplastic composite tube whose matrices were made from polypropylene and polyamide 6 composite
was experimentally investigated by Priem et al. [285]. The fiber materials of choice were glass and carbon
for polypropylene and polyamide 6 matrices, respectively with various impact angles and fiber
orientations. The authors did not specify a fabrication technique of the different braided composite tubes,
however, it was reported that the 2.5D-braided tubes were actualized using DJP with ply by ply interlocked
fibers. In their results, it was reported that the carbon/polyamide braided composite tubes gave the highest
SEA of 61 kJ/kg with a characteristic progressive folding mode. On the other hand, the
glass/polypropylene braided composite tube gave the highest SEA value of 36 kJ/kg with a splaying mode.
Their results show that thermoplastic composite made from polyamide matrix are more promising than
those made from polypropylene. They can, therefore, be optimized to produce better crashworthiness
characteristics than the thermoset composite. However, the use of polypropylene can best be compared
with energy absorbing metallic materials or low energy absorbing thermoset composite structures.
 Another emerging fabrication technique proposed for EACS is additive manufacturing which is also
known as 3D printing. This processing method has been well suited for producing metallic energy
absorbing structures. Their application in producing functionally graded thin-walled tubes for
crashworthiness application is also promising. Moreover, the fabrication technique has been utilized for the
production of fiber/polymer composites [87, 286]. However, additive manufacturing has suffered great
limitation in the production of EACS. The increased curing time, void formation and poor reinforcement
between fiber and matrix are some of the inherent challenges of using this fabrication technique. Some bio-
inspired energy absorbing structures have been fabricated by 3D printing based on certain techniques such
as selective laser sintering and melting [287, 288]. In [288], the bionic tubes with bamboo cross-section
were fabricated by additive manufacturing and the tubes were reported to exhibit higher SEA of between
37.96% to 108.97% than the cylindrical metallic tubes.

4. Challenges, future advancements and maintenance for sustainability of EACS

4.1. Challenges and future directions

It has been shown from this review that EACS have better crashworthiness performance than their metallic
counterpart when they are crushed under axial or oblique impact loading conditions. However, some issues
that arise in the composite material and during their manufacturing processes have continued to pose
challenges. Some of these challenges are given in this section. Veritable solutions to addressing these
challenges are given with possible advancements in the production of very efficient energy absorber.
Damage assessments of EACS with possible composite repairs are also mentioned.

4.1.1. Materials

Naturally occurring fibrous materials and their application in the production of energy absorbing structures
have promising potentials owing to their biodegradable characteristics, reduced density, increased specific
stiffness and improve mechanical strength when enhanced with appropriate amount of nanomaterials.
However, they suffer a major problem of low thermal resistance especially when they are exposed to high
temperature caused by flame or fire. To effectively address this problem, it is therefore, suggested that
producers of these energy absorbers could introduce flame retardant substance during the production
process. For instance, flame retardant material i.e., polyphosphonates oligomers could be applied to the
matrix resins of thermoplastic and thermosets during the production of the composite energy absorber. The
retardant additive slows the spread of fire or flame and hence, shields the energy absorbing structure from
being adversely affected by the flame or fire. Also, it is well known that foam filled composite tubes
produce higher crushing performance than those without foam. To guarantee, however, the foam from
being melted or destroyed by flame or fire, researchers should combine efforts to produce flame or fire
resistant foam. We propose a polyethersulfone (PES) as emerging flame resistant foam for foam-filled
composite energy absorbers. The PES has high temperature and flame resistant, lightweight as well as
improved mechanical strength and stiffness. Another derived advantage of incorporating this type of foam
in EACS is that it is flexible with irregular or complex shapes fabricated by bladder moulding process.

The addition of secondary reinforcement to GFRP and CFRP has been shown in this review to improve the
energy absorption of composite crushed tubes. This secondary reinforcement includes graphene platelets,
CNT, nanoclays and nanoparticles. However, there is very little research on the incorporation of these
nano-composites to FRP. Significant research is required in this area of adding secondary reinforcement
not only for synthetic composite but also for natural composites. The application of biocomposites and
nanocomposites for EACS has also advanced the field of crashworthiness. An attempt to study the rate
dependencies and energy absorption characters of both biocomposites and nanocomposites was made by
Argento et al. [214]. The authors reported that biocomposites structures produced unique energy
dissipation behaviour while the nanocomposites did not. However, further investigation could be carried
out to optimize the SEA and EAC of these structures using the same parametric and impact loading
conditions. In further, very little studies have been conducted to investigate the effect of graphene nano-
particle on synthetic or natural composites. It was accentuated by [77] that there is need to explore the use
of graphene especially for the reduction of cracks in composite materials. For example, small functions of
nanofillers functionalized graphene face-sheets with epoxy resin was reported to deflect crack more
effectively, enhance fracture toughness, fracture energy, stiffness, strength and fatigue resistance than
CNT, nanoparticles and nanoclay additives. Some of the current challenges of the use of composites for
mechanical structures include the understanding of crack initiation, prediction and propagation. Therefore,
the integration of graphene and related materials into FRP composite can enhance the strength in the
cracked part of EACS and ultimately improve the overall crashworthiness performance of the structure.

This review also shows that various contemporary researchers have developed interest in the use of bio-
inspired structures as energy absorbers. The energy absorbing features of some plants and animals have
inspired contemporary researchers to venture into producing energy absorbing bio-mimetic structures.
Their inspiration have been drawn, for example, from the (a) multi-layer structure of fish skin [289] and
mantis shrimps [290] (b) multi-cell structure of cattail [291] and palm [34] and (c) foamy structure of
pomelo [292], lotus stem [293] and bone [151]. In spite of all these investigation, the challenge is that none
of these bio-mimetic structures have fully been designed to actually mimic the natural structures and give
the optimum energy absorbing characteristics of these natural structures. To this end, it is clear that the
EAC and SEA of bio-inspired structures are still far below those of the natural structures. More
experiments on energy absorbing bio-structures should be performed and the crashworthiness of SEA and
EAC should be measured. The results obtained can, therefore, be a standard for evaluating the correct
performance of bio-inspired structures and these structures can also be optimizing further.

This review has also shown that the hybridization of materials to produce EACS continue to remain a
challenge. This is because the different materials may become incompatible during the joining or
fabrication process. Appreciable efforts have been made in joining metal and composite structures together
to give EACS. However, it is observed from this review that most studies only considered metals and
synthetic composite hybrid structures. The study of bio-metallic composite hybrid structures has been
rarely investigated. The reason for this can be attributed to the highly incompatibility of the different
material properties of the hybrid fibers. However, future research can be channelled towards the direction
of producing metal and natural composite hybrid structures. For example, structural hybrid tubes like
kenaf/Al, silk/Al and ramie/Al fibers et cetera, with compatible resins can be combined and their
crashworthiness performance evaluated.

4.1.2. Manufacturing

During fabrication of materials to form energy absorbing hybrid structures, the hybrid parts are most times
poorly joined which results in weight increase of the hybrid structure. The effect of this is lower SEA and
EAC during impact. Good adhesion materials or promoters can be a veritable solution to reduce the weight
increase of hybrid structure. More research can be geared towards testing and manufacturing materials or
promoters that can improve the adhesion quality of the hybrid structure. The joining of crash box by
adhesives has also been reported by Esnaola et al. [277]. During dynamic crushing, the authors reported
failure of the adhesive joints at the joining interfaces of the crash box.

Another challenge is inability to use the right manufacturing method to fabricate EACS. Also, the cost of
manufacturing using different fabrication techniques varies. No effective paradigm has been put in place to
ensure the most effective fabrication technique and cost efficient production of energy absorbers.
Moreover, during the fabrication process, correct FVF content is necessary to produced very efficient
energy absorbers. However, many researchers reported a single FVF during the fabrication of the sample
structures as can be observed in Table 9. Without testing the correct and appropriate fiber volume content,
the likelihood of using underestimated or overestimated FVF is high. The consequence of either of this is
the lowering of SEA and EAC of the crushed composite structure. Moreover, during fabrication of EACS,
manufacturers pay no particular attention on proper sizing of the fiber and composite matrix. One
promising advantage of sizing the fiber/matrix composite is that it can improve its impact strength, and
thus, improve the crashworthiness performance of the absorbing structure. The degree of the influence of
fiber sizing on the overall crashworthiness performance of the energy absorbing structure is, therefore,
worth investigating.

It is also reported in this review that 3D printing is an emerging manufacturing technique for energy
absorbers especially for making intricate parts. Also, the unique features of this fabrication method have
made it possible for the fabrication of bio-inspired or sandwich structures made from polymeric materials
[207]. However, the technique has suffered some drawbacks in the production of energy absorbers made
from composite materials. Very few research investigations have been carried out using composite
materials to produce bio-inspired structures. To this end, search should be intensified to arrest the
limitations 3D printing has suffered in the fabrication of EACS. Other alternative additive manufacturing
method has been proposed, however, they are not promising for EACS. For instance, Ozlati et al. [294]
used the fused deposition modelling as an alternative additive manufacturing method to join polypropylene
and Al-Mg alloy steel together. They reported that the peak load of the fabricated material increased using
this joining technique. However, numerous findings have shown that increased peak load for EACS
indicate a poor crashworthiness performance of the structure. Therefore, combined effort should be put
together to find the best performing polymer that can be utilized to mitigate the disadvantages of using
additive manufacturing for EACS production.

Table 9 summarizes the different composite materials and fabrication techniques utilized by some selected
researchers who investigated the crashworthiness performance of EACS. During the fabrication process,
some researchers did not take into cognisance the influence of fiber volume fraction (FVF) as evident in
Table 9. However, it has been revealed in this review article that the effect of this FVF parameter on the
crashworthiness of EACS is very significant. Therefore, efforts should be combined to initially test the
optimal proportion of FVF content and then applying the right proportion during the fabrication process.
Furthermore, given the real time benefits of the final manufactured product of the EACS and their
application on a large scale; it is of utmost importance to understand their behaviour, optimisation, damage
initiation, prediction, propagation and prevention. Better enhancement of their energy absorbing
characteristics can be achieved by meticulous selection of their material composition, manufacturing
process, modelling techniques and optimization problems. To further explore the crashworthiness
potentials of composite materials, efficient numerical techniques and simulation tools that incorporate
different composite material designs and manufacturing techniques can be developed. Numerical
techniques and simulations not only address the limitation of high manufacturing cost of production and
delay time encountered during experimental design and investigation, they also solve complex scenarios
within a short period of time.

Table 9
Overview of material types and manufacturing techniques of EACS employed by some selected authors.

Authors Geometric Fiber/matrix Fiber volume Fabrication Reference

shape composites method
fraction (%)
Liu et al. Square Carbon/epoxy 56 Bladder moulding [295]
Zhu et al. Circular Carbon/epoxy VARTM [296]
Liu et al. Double hat Carbon/epoxy Bladder moulding [37]
Hu et al. Circular Glass/carbon/epoxy 0, 30, 40, 50, Resin transfer [188]
60, 70 and 100 moulding (RTM)
Gan et al. Circular, Carbon/epoxy Mould and demoulding [297]
hexagonal,
square
Wang et al. Circular GFRP Vacuum assisted resin [265]
infusion (VARI)
Esnaola et al. Semi-hexagonal E-glass/basalt/polyester Infusion [298]
McGregor et al. Circular, square Carbon/vinyl ester 39, 41, VARTM [250]
respectively
Böhm et al. Circular Glass/polypropylene 35 Vacuum bag, winding, [282]
moulding, autoclave
processes
Chiu et al. Circular NY/NY Hand lay-up and [260]
autoclave curing
Zhao et al. Triangular, CFRP High pressure [299]
square, autoclave curing
pentagonal, process
hexagonal and
circular
Reuter et al. Circular Carbon/epoxy 52 Manual winding [187]
process
Xu et al. Circular Carbon/aramid/glass/- 38.3, 39.6, Filament winding [267]
epoxy 41.1, 42.9 and
43.9
Zhou et al. Circular Carbon/glass/epoxy FRPs/foam: Pultrusion [278]
7.1, 11.4, 16.3
Zhang et al. Circular, square E-glass/polyester 70 Filament winding [124]
and tapered
Ye et al. Origami patterns Carbon/epoxy Moulding and vacuum [300]
bag process
Esnaola et al. Semi-hexagonal E-glass/polyester 54.06 ± 0.89, Thermal infusion, [241]
53.52 ± 0.52, Ultraviolet infusion,
55.33 ± 0.48, Hand lay-up,
53.31 ± 0.68, Ultraviolet pultrusion
respectively
Ma et al. Circular Carbon/aramid/epoxy Filament winding [57]
Di Benedetto et Hat-shaped beam Carbon/Epoxy and 50 VARTM [237]
al. Carbon/Polyurethane
Sivagurunathan Circular Jute/epoxy hand layup and [46]
et al. compression bladder
moulding
Alkbir et al. Hexagonal Non-woven kenaf 28 Hand lay-up [54]
fibre/epoxy
Roslan et al. Circular Basalt/epoxy as face- Hand lay-up [248]
sheet and polyurethane
as core
Vcelka et al. Rectangular Carbon/epoxy as face- Prepreg lay-up [209]
sheet and aluminium
alloy foam as core
Baba Flat and curved E-glass/epoxy as face- Vacuum infusion and [58]
square plate sheet and PVC as core thermoforming process
Tarlochan and Square Glass/carbon/epoxy with Hand lay-up [48]
Ramesh polystyrene foam
Zouggar et al. Rectangular S-glass/polyester 34 Hand layup [120]
Zhou et al. Square laminate Steel/glass-vinyl ester Layup technique for [246]
and ellipsoidal E-glass/vinyl ester the laminate
solid ball Wet winding process
for the core
Rabiee and Circular Glass/epoxy Hand layup [245]
Ghasemnejad.
Stoddard et al. Cylindrical rod Glass/graphite/epoxy 12, 30, 48, 60 Pultrusion [198]
Hosseini et al. Cylindrical Glass/carbon/epoxy Vacuum bagging and [244]
vacuum infusion
Meredith et al. Conical Jute/flax/hemp/epoxy Different VARTM [141]
measured
results
Rahman et al. Rectangular Flax/ polypropylene 31, 40, 50 Vacuum bagging and [140]
hand lay-up
Alkateb et al. Elliptical cone Kenaf/epoxy Wet winding process [59]
Ghoushji et al. Square Ramie/epoxy 45 Hand layup [53]
Yan et al. Circular Flax/ basalt/ glass/epoxy Hand lay-up [243]
with polyurethane foam
Virgillito et al. Square E-glass/ epoxy Autoclave vacuum bag [118]
Luo et al. Circular Glass/ epoxy Winding process [117]
Luo et al. Circular Carbon/epoxy Winding process [301]
Kosmann et al. Rectangular Glass/epoxy 34.3 ± 3 VARTM [242]
laminate
Hu et al. Circular Glass cloth/epoxy Wrapping, curing and [123]
demoulding of prepreg
material
Kathiresan et al. Conical frusta E-glass/epoxy 52 - 58 Hand lay-up [122]
Alia et al. Hexagonal- Carbon/epoxy 15, 28, 40, 49, VARTM [105]
honeycomb 51
Ma et al. Laminate Carbon/ polyamide 6 Hot compression [238]

Saenz- Semi-hexagonal Glass/vinyl ester 52 Pultrusion [41]

Dominguez et
al.
Othman et al. Square E-glass/polyester 50.8 Hand lay-up [42]
Mohamed et al. Rectangular, E-glass/polyurethane VARTM [43]
trapezoidal
Zhu et al. Circular CFRP/epoxy Bladder moulding [45]
Bakar et al. Circular Kenaf/glass/epoxy 30.61, 58.68, Filament winding [47]
66.08, 67.04
Ryzińska et al. Circular Carbon/epoxy Hand lay-up and [281]
autoclave
Sun et al. Circular Carbon/epoxy 70 Wet filament winding [30]
Özbek et al. Circular Glass/basalt/epoxy Wet filament winding [60]
Vitale et al. Square Carbon/epoxy 50 ± 1 VARTM [108]

4.1.3. Damage assessment

As already mentioned, residual crashworthiness and pre-impact could arise during manufacturing,
maintenance and service handling of EACS. These several small impacts could develop incipient cracks,
delamination and pre-damage in the EACS and consequently, reduce its overall crashworthiness
performance and environmental friendliness. Visual inspection and monitoring of these damaged parts
could be very straightforward. However, in several occasions, the damage assessment of the EACS may be
unrealistic and intractable through visual inspection. Damage of these sorts is commonly known as barely
visible impact damage (BVID). Therefore, to address this kind of impact damage, combined efforts have
been put together to assess and detect BVID in recent years. This method is generally called non-
destructive testing (NDT) and has been used by a good number of researchers to detect debonding and
cracks in composites [302-304] both in the automotive and aerospace industries. Lately, a review of NDT
types used in the automotive industries was outlined by Balakrishnan and Seidlitz [305] while Towsyfyan
et al. [306] reviewed common types used in the aerospace industries. For the former, the major types listed
include infrared thermography, ultrasonic testing and digital shearography while for the latter; the common
types listed by the authors include ultrasonic testing, acoustic emission, eddy current testing, infrared
thermography and X-ray imaging. These different testing techniques have the capacity to detect debonding,
crack, delamination, impact damage, etc. Moreover, apart from the damage detection, digital shearography
also combine the advantage of measuring strain in the EACS. However, the investment cost of installing
these testing machines can be a great concern. Also, NDT machine requires highly skilled personnel to
operate it and normally, during testing, the size of the crack must exceed the thickness of the composite
structures. The latter limitation of NDT makes it intractable for very small incipient cracks to be detected.
To adequately address these limitations, Isaac [307] proposed a carbon nanotube (CNT) self-sensing device
for green composite damage assessment. This sensing device can also be incorporated into synthetic
composites energy absorbing structures. In the proposed CNT self-sensing device, the author indicated that
apart from detecting damage of CEAS, it can also detect its own damage. The choice of using CNT was
that the CNT is in nano-scale and the sensitivity of CNT improves as it undergoes deformation. In addition,
the CNT self-sensing device has piezo-impedance characteristics which enable its effective detection of
incipient cracks and monitoring of strain as well capturing possible damage path on the energy absorbing
structure.

4.1.4. Composite repairs

Some of the greatest challenges in composite structures include the effective detection of cracks and
intricacies involved during repairs. Conventional composites repairs in the automotive industry such as
riveting and bolting have been shown to be less effective techniques in the repairs of composite structures.
This is because they not only increase stress concentration, they also increase the weight of the composite
structure. Adopting this technique for repairs of EACS will also result in stress concentration and structural
weight increase. The aftermath effect are reduced crashworthiness performance, worsen fuel economy,
increased fuel emission with more toxic substance released into the atmosphere (i.e., in automobile
application) or upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (i.e., aircraft application). The utilization of these
kinds of energy absorbers eventually result in making the environment less friendly. To avoid such
situation, a number of unconventional composites repair practices have been studied [308-311]. In the
automotive industry, the scarfing and injection repairs are being frequently used owing to their advantage
of no-mass addition to the repaired components [305]. Moreover in this type of repairs, the damaged part is
removed and replaced with a new part either by resin injection or by the use of mould. A concerned
disadvantage of using this technique is that before scarfing technique could be adopted, the ratio of the
thickness of the composite structure to length of the repaired part should not be less than 1:20. This
limitation can be addressed by using an injection repair procedure. In the aerospace industry, scarf patches
for composite repairs are also commonly used [312,313]. The choice for this particular technique is that it
can provide better stress transfer, more effective joining of parts as well as enhanced aerodynamic
performance [313]. Generally, after scarf repairs, it is expected to perform a NDT on the repaired
composite to ascertain its structural integrity as explained in the previous sub-section.

4.2. Maintenance for sustainability

The major crashworthiness parameters such as SEA, EAC and CFE for energy absorbing composite
structures as emphasized in this review can be regarded as sustainable indicators. To improve the energy
efficiencies of these indicators in EACS ultimately improves the potential impact they contribute on the
environment, economy and social wellbeing of the citizen. The performance of EACS is affected by their
maintenance process which is related to cost/volume, amount of waste, time duration of production and
additional manufacturing process, to mention a few. These factors have an overall effect on the product
quality and efficiency of the energy absorber. Also, poor material selection and fabrication systems
malfunction can lead to the production of waste and low crashworthiness performance. As explained in this
review, the use of natural composites for producing EACS is an effective way of making the structure
environmentally friendly. The role of maintenance 4.0 for sustainable materials and manufacturing of
EACS is, therefore, a welcome development and more researchers are anticipated to investigate the
promises it brings to the environment, economy and social lives of the people. This section therefore,
introduces possible sustainable maintenance management strategies that can be adopted by designers and
producers of EACS. A more detailed work on the sustainable maintenance of green composite energy
absorbing structures has been given by Isaac [307]. Maintenance services of EACS should be strictly
observed because they have the potential of improving sustainability in manufacturing process of energy
absorbers.
4.2.1. General maintenance

During manufacture and repairs of energy absorbers for crashworthiness application, it is expected that the
manufacture and repair manuals are strictly adhered to ensure high efficiency of the manufactured or
repaired part. For instance, the correct mix ratio of the matrix resin and the hardener must be ensured. Also,
in some cases, the resins must not be exposed to high temperature before they are being used for the
production of energy absorbers. If the reverse is the case, they must be tested for good performance before
they are being used. For syntheses that require curing agents, the absorption of moisture into these agents
must be carefully guided against. This is because; wet curing agents not only decrease the strength of the
composite structure but also degrade their overall material properties.

After manufacturing or before installation of the energy absorbing tubes to their respective application
devices, it is expedient to do some preliminary check against crack, void or delamination. This inspection
routing is encouraged so as to avoid future uncertain occurrence of pre-failure of EACS. Hu et al. [123]
used an ultrasonic flaw instrument on the glass cloth/epoxy composite tube to detect the existence of cracks
and delamination before it was finally subjected to axial quasi-static and dynamic impact test. However,
very few researchers have considered the role of this preliminary inspection.

4.2.2. Green maintenance

In densely populated environment where more commercial activities and the use of some transportation
systems is inevitable, there have been increased alarming reports of lung or respiratory disease due to toxic
substances released into the air by moving vehicles. One sustainable maintenance management is green
maintenance for EACS. This involves the use of green composites to produce FRPs from sustainable
materials that can easily be disposed of (i.e. for thermosetting materials) or recycled (i.e. for thermoplastic
materials) after they have undergone permanent deformation process. Green composites are lightweight
and the lighter the moving vehicle, the fewer amounts of pollutants it releases to the atmosphere, upper
troposphere and lower stratosphere depending on the type of industrial application (i.e., in the automotive
or aerospace industries). Their application for energy absorbers in cars, trains, motorcycles and fuselage of
aircrafts, therefore, will not only result in efficient fuel economy, but also reduce the amount of carbon IV
oxide released to the environment thus, minimizing poisonous substances that are liable to affect the human
health.

4.2.3. E- maintenance and sensors

Another way of sustainable maintenance of EACS is the integration of industry 4.0 e-maintenance and
sensor network. By this, the cycle life of the energy absorber during pre-impact and after impact can be
conditionally monitored. These entail the gathering of data from EACS and tracking their energy
efficiencies during pre-impacts as well as gathering information of the extent of deformation after impact.
The data can be collected and used by manufacturers to produce more robust and efficient energy
absorbing composite structural parts. Also, by this health monitoring process, incipient cracks can be
detected, damage can be prevented or reduced to the barest minimum and unnecessary cost of inspection
can be avoided. Though these maintenance and sensor network technology may seem expensive, their
benefits, however, are unparalleled. Significant research is, therefore, required in this area to produce low
cost, highly efficient e-maintenance and sensor device for EACS. Abot et al. [314] proposed a cost
effective self-sensing device which was incorporated into composite materials and used to protect
structures from overload as well as track damage history. The authors [315] have initially patented a self-
sensing device for composite materials. Moreover, the proposed sensing device was capable of detecting
damage initiation such as delamination and debonding in composite laminates. Similar or well modified
cost effective devices can be employed to EACS for their health monitoring and sustainable maintenance.
Concluding remark

In this review, an overview of several research studies on crashworthiness performance of EACS is

presented. Over the past decades, the alarming rate of deaths, injuries and damage of valuables during
catastrophic crash incidence have increased the interest of researchers to find more efficient ways of
arresting the situation. Energy absorbing structures or devices made from composite materials show more
integrity, higher crashworthiness performance than their metallic counterparts. Their lightweight status,
environmental friendliness, lower densities, higher strengths, higher specific stiffness and promising
potential in noise reduction, make them unparalleled to other materials. However, from this review, it has
been shown that the choice of composite materials and fabrication techniques can significantly affect their
capability to absorb energy more efficiently. Various design parameters that influence the major
crashworthiness parameters such as SEA, EAC and CFE were critically examined. Numerous suggestions
and proposals for future advancement have been given. Finally, the review article attempted to introduce e-
maintenance and sensor devices that can be incorporated in EACS without affecting their integrity and for
their sustainable maintenance.

Acknowledgement

This paper has been supported by the National Science Centre, Poland with decision no. DEC-
2017/25/B/ST7/02236.

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