Energy absorption characteristics of novel square chiral honeycomb

To improve the energy absorption of the chiral honeycomb, this paper introduces a new square chiral honeycomb design, which is based on the conventional chiral honeycomb. In this paper, numerical simulations were carried out using Abaqus/Explicit, and quasi-static experiments were performed to validate the finite element simulation results by fabricating honeycomb samples with the parent material polylactic acid using a 3D printer. The results demonstrate that the novel square chiral honeycomb outperforms the conventional chiral honeycomb in terms of energy absorption, with a 9.19% increase for the same mass. Additionally, the novel square chiral honeycomb significantly reduces the initial peak force and exhibits an asymptotic folding deformation mode, unlike the conventional chiral honeycomb. The energy absorption of the honeycomb does not substantially increase with the ratio of the side lengths of the ribs to the quadrilateral of the novel square chiral honeycomb. Lastly, in the investigation of wall thickness, the energy absorption of the honeycomb increases as the wall thickness of the novel square chiral honeycomb increases, but its initial peak force does not exhibit a linear increase.