Dynamic crushing behaviour of aluminium tubes filled with cork

Abstract
Cork is a natural cellular material with unique remarkable properties such as low density, great elasticity, chemical stability and resilience, no permeability to liquid and gases and resistance to wear and fire. Besides, it is ecological, hygienic, easy to maintain and a very durable material. Unfortunately, there are still application fields that have not been explored yet for the use of cork, possibly due to the fact that it is a complex cellular material, characterized by very variable mechanical properties which clearly depend on its microstructure. The fundamental aspects of the static and dynamic mechanical behaviour of natural and agglomerate cork, used alone and as filler inside a tube with small dimensions, under axial compressive loading, have already been studied by the authors. Aluminium cork-filled tubes and their empty counterparts were tested experimentally and numerically at quasi-static and dynamic strain rates from 10 ^{- 3}s ^{- 1} to 600 s ^{- 1}. Data from the Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar and “deconvolution” techniques were used to generate stress-strain curves for the structures composed of natural and agglomerate cork. The numerical simulations of the dynamic compression of the specimens were carried out using the finite element method software LS-DYNA and showed quite good agreement with the experimental results. Hence, in this work, in order to extend the study started previously and investigate the possible advantages of cork-filling in longer tubes with a different section, the authors simulate, using the same software, the influence of the introduction of agglomerate cork in square and circular aluminium tubes with a diameter/width of 80 mm, a length of 300mm and a variable thickness. The mechanical properties of the structures composed of cork may constitute a potential for this material to be used in innovative applications related to diverse fields such as automotive, transport, ships and military applications.