UW-Madison Engineers Developing New Shock-Absorbing Foam for Soldiers' Helmets

Wednesday, January 4th, 2023 -- 12:00 PM

(Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers have developed a new shock-absorbing foam made from carbon nanotubes aimed at reducing traumatic brain injuries in U.S. soldiers.

According to Rich Kremer with Wisconsin Public Radio, the material has been shown to absorb shock 18 times better than existing military helmet liners and could also offer athletes better protection against concussions.

In order to tackle big issues like brain injuries on the battlefront, UW-Madison associate professor of engineering and physics Ramathasan Thevamaran thinks small, as in micrometers.

He and fellow engineers at the university have developed a way to make flexible carbon tubes, around a thousand times smaller than a human hair, into a new type of ultra-shock-absorbing foam.

A research paper published in the journal Extreme Mechanics shows the nanotube foam has an energy absorption rate 18 times higher than traditional foams currently used in military helmets. Thevamaran said creating a new type of helmet padding for the military comes with many challenges.

It has to be light, comfortable and must maintain its shock absorbing properties in extreme climates. Because it's made of carbon, Thevamaran said, it retains its performance at temperature around -800 degrees Fahrenheit.

Because the carbon foam is a novel material, he and colleagues designed 180 experiments to find which combination of nanotube thickness, diameter and gaps between the tubes were best at absorbing shock.

That resulted in a foam around 3 millimeters thick that uses a chemical process to grow the tubes like hair. Thevamaran said the team combined two layers and began smashing the nanotube foam to see how it recovered from the shock.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.