TAILORING ENERGY ABSORPTION AND CRASHWORTHINESS IN SINTERED GLASS FOAMS

This study investigates amorphous glass-based foams as lightweight core materials for crash-resistant structures with tailorable energy absorption properties. Hollow glass microspheres (HGMs) are arranged into layers using dry powder printing (DPP), an additive manufacturing technique, and subsequently sintered to consolidate the micro- spheres into a cellular foam structure. Energy absorption in these foams is tailored by selecting hollow glass microspheres with varying wall thicknesses and optimizing the sintering temperature profile. The mechanical behavior of the sintered glass foams is evaluated through dynamic uniaxial impact testing. Foams produced from two types of microspheres, differing in wall thickness and sintering temperature, exhibit distinct acceleration curves and stress-strain profiles. Key metrics, including crush efficiency, energy absorption, and peak and mean crush stress, are determined from the stress- strain curves. The results highlight that material selection and processing parameters play critical roles in producing glass foams with tunable energy absorption characteris- tics. The implementation of these materials for energy absorption, and crashworthiness applications will be discussed.