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Thin-walled tubular structures are widely employed in applications. The current study proposes an innovative cost-saving and eco-friendly thin-walled cylinder concept using recycled beverage cans. Axial compression experiments are conducted to characterize the crushing performance under quasi-static and dynamic loading. Besides, the polyurethane foam (PUF)-filled beverage cans are fabricated to improve the compression resistance and energy absorption capacity. Experimental results show that empty beverage cans behave as a typical Type-II absorber and fail by local buckling of the cylinder belly. The initial peak force increases with deformation rates while the highest mean crushing force is obtained at compressive velocity of 50 mm/min. In contrast, PUF-filled beverage cans collapse with a progressive folding process and present significant improvement in crashworthiness. Experimental results are compared with theoretical analysis and conventional energy absorbers to clarify the crashworthiness. In addition, the interaction effect between the PUF fillings and the recycled beverage cans is discussed comprehensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, metallic pyramidal lattice truss core sandwich structures, including single-layered as well as multi-layered ones, are fabricated from EOS Aluminium AlSi10 Mg, utilizing additive manufacturing method. Out-of-plane and in-plane compression as well as shear tests were carried out in order to measure the stiffness and strength properties of the structures. The out-of-plane compressive strength is determined by buckling of struts, and specimens fail in plastic yielding of face sheets for in-plane tests. And for the shear performance of the specimens, the strength is dominated by the node failure. In addition to experimental testing, finite element models have been developed for simulating the stiffness and strength properties and the numerical results agree well with experimental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]