Novel Fiber-Based Padding Materials for Football Helmets

Abstract

An experimental study is performed to determine the head mechanics of American football helmets equipped with novel fiber energy absorbing material (FEAM). FEAM-based padding materials have substrates of textile fabrics and foam made with nylon fibers using electro-static flocking process. Both linear and angular accelerations of the sport helmets are determined under impact loads using a custom-built linear impactor and instrumented head. The effectiveness of padding materials and vinyl nitrile (VN) foam for impact loads on six different head positions that simulate two helmeted sport athletes in real-time helmet-to-helmet strike/impact is investigated. A high-speed camera is used to record and track neck flexion angles and compare them with pad effectiveness to better understand the head kinematics of struck players at three different impact speeds (6 m/s, 8 m/s, and 10 m/s). At impact speed of 6 m/s and 8 m/s, the FEAM-based padding material of 60 denier fibers showed superior resistance for angular acceleration. Although novel pads of VN foam flocked with 60 denier fibers outperformed with lowest linear acceleration for most of the head positions at low impact speed of 6 m/s, VN foam with no fibers demonstrated excellent performance for linear acceleration at other two speeds.