Optimization and redesign of a structurally loaded fused filament fabrication component: Numerical and experimental validation - Preprint -

Additive manufacturing provides the possibility to manufacture parts on demand and offers tremendous form freedom compared to traditional manufacturing methods. However, Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) is not yet widely used for highly structurally loaded parts, as their strength is hard to control and to predict. In this work we aim to analyze...

Development of a scaled vehicle underbelly blast test method

Over the last three years TNO has explored the possibilities of fiber-reinforced composites to provide vehicle underbelly protection against blast loading. This work consists of three parts: • Numerical analysis of full-scale blast loading conditions in comparison to scaled blast loading conditions. • The development of a test method suitable to...

Development of fiber-reinforced composite material for blast protection

This paper shows how standard fiber-reinforced composite materials have limited resistance against blast loading. Their relatively high brittleness in comparison to metals causes them to fail early under out-of-plane blast loading. Their failure appears to be mainly caused by exceedance of strain to failure by local bending, fully absorbing the...

Assessment of behind armour blunt trauma risk for a combat helmet by a combined experimental and numerical method

The objective of this research is to develop a method to assess the skull fracture and mild traumatic brain injury risk for so called Behind Armour Blunt Trauma (BABT) using a state of the art Finite Element (FE) model of the human head for which tolerance limits for these specific injury mechanisms are available. The back face deformation,...

Effect of gage length on failure strain

Failure prediction in crash analyses of ships has traditionally made use of an equation that relates the failure strain to the gage length and material thickness. The equation is derived based on the idea that a neck ( a localization of strain) is a fixed size relative to the thickness and that it can be homogenized over a larger gage section....