Abstract
In the past, energy absorption of protection/damping materials is mainly based on energy dissipation, which causes a fundamental conflict between the requirements of safety/comfort and efficiency. In the current study, a nanofluidic "energy capture" system is reported, which is based on nanoporous materials and nonwetting liquid. Both molecular dynamics simulations and experiments show that as the liquid overcomes the capillary effect and infiltrates into the nanopores, the mechanical energy of a stress wave could be temporarily stored by the confined liquid phase and isolated from the wave energy transmission path. Such a system can work under a relatively low pressure for mitigating high-pressure stress waves, not necessarily involved in any energy dissipation processes. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 203107 |
| Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
| Volume | 104 |
| Issue number | 20 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 19 May 2014 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The concept generation, the theoretical analysis, and the system design were supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ECCS-1028010. The experimental investigation was supported by the Army Research Office under Grant No. W91CRB-11-C-0112, and the materials preparation was supported by DARPA under Grant No. W91CRB-11-C-0112 (subaward to UCSD). The program development for the computer simulation was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CMMI-0643726. The computational case study was supported by DARPA under Grant No. W91CRB-11-C-0112 (subaward to Columbia University). The data analysis of computer simulation was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 11172231.