Fabrication and Application of Various Composites and Other Novel Materials in Impact Energy Absorption: A Review

This review discusses the fabrication, characterization and application of various combinations of mechanical shock absorbers. The energy absorption characteristics of shock-absorbing materials are taken into account that varies with fabrication materials, design, fabrication processes and so on. It was reviewed that Nylon-Silica mix 2-cerium oxide additive composite showed a high % of impact resistance of 92.7. Also literature showed that foam-based shock absorbers composed of emulsion-polymerized styrene–butadiene rubber and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer work well in a broad temperature range of − 45 to 100°C. In this work various fabrication processes such as additive manufacturing, melt blending, mold casting, etc., are also studied in details. The superior properties of graphene which render it an excellent nanofiller to be used in shock-absorbing composites, are emphasized. Graphene is investigated to possess a high tensile strength of about 0.013 TPa and Young’s modulus of 1 TPa which make it feasible to resist high-energy impacts. The tremendous potential of graphene when combined with polymer composite can yield outstanding shock-absorbing results that need to be experimentally investigated in future works.