Quote:
Originally Posted by drmiller100
Cars have been doing this for 20 years plus. Plastic and foam have been front and back of many cars, including hondas, since the early 90's.
The weight of the crumple zones is not very much.
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I believe that good drmiller has misunderstood.
We are referring to aluminum foam, and also to titanium foam. Not referring to aluminum PLUS common plastic foam, which indeed has been in use for many years. Foamed metal apparently has significant strength - though it does crumple - and light weight. Apparently deal for - you guessed it - crumple zones.
I googled "aluminum foam crumple zone reasearch"
and "titanium foam crumple zone reasearch".
I found these links, among others:
http://cvxmotion2.wikispaces.com/Jac...ouglasResearch
http://www.materia.nl/575.0.html?&user_material[material_uid]=439&cHash=10e5e231b2
Center for the Science & Engineering of Materials @ Caltech
AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE :: NEW METAL THAT'S FULL OF HOLES
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...RPEpmAiazfr2rw