Applicability of Thermoplastic Elastomers to Impact Load Reduction in Sports Equipment

Abstract

In this paper, mechanical properties of thermoplastic elastomers were investigated to expand the applicability of thermoplastic elastomers to the impact load reduction for the sports equipment. The thermoplastic elastomers show both thermoplastic and elastomeric properties. These are expected to apply to the impact load reduction in sports equipment due to good processability and less-smell. In this study, thermoplastic elastomers were applied for monotonic and cyclic tensile loading tests. The thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) materials in this study were newly developed for the specific purpose of impact load reduction. The nonlinear hyperelastic model considering the viscosity and damage model was applied to the tensile loading test results. finite element analysis (FEA) results of TPE specimens with periodic geometric shapes to reduce impact load were investigated.

Keywords

• thermoplastic elastomer
• finite element analysis
• impact load