In aerospace and automotive engineering, improving impact resistance while maintaining lightweight structures is critical, particularly for shell components. Bio-inspired beetle elytron plates (BEPs) offer promising solutions due to their natural design, providing enhanced mechanical performance under impact conditions [1][2].

This study focuses on end-trabecular beetle elytron plates (EBEPs) and grid beetle elytron plates (GBEPs) fabricated through additive manufacturing with eco-friendly materials. These plates were compared to conventional honeycomb (HPs) and grid plates (GPs) under 10 J impact energy. Dynamic impact tests using a drop hammer system measured peak force and other key indicators.

The results show that EBEP and GBEP significantly outperformed conventional plates, with energy absorption increasing by 7% to 10% and with deformation reduced by over 5%. These designs provided up to 15% more stable impact resistance and around 12% higher mean force retention, demonstrating greater structural integrity under repeated impacts.

The findings highlight the potential of bio-inspired plates for enhancing impact resistance in aerospace and automotive shell components. Our research group has already developed methods to design and fabricate curved beetle elytron plates [3][4], and future studies will focus on low-velocity impact tests to further address the demands of lightweight, high-strength structures.

[1] Song, Y., et al. Extraction and reconstruction of a beetle forewing cross-section point set and its curvature characteristics. Pattern Analysis Applications 25, 77–87 (2022).
[2] Song, Y., et al. Free vibration properties of beetle elytron plate: Composite material, stacked structure and boundary conditions. Mechanics of Materials, 185, 104754 (2023).
[3] Song, Y., et al. Clamping method and mechanical properties of aluminum honeycomb cylindrical curved plates under radial compression. Journal of Sandwich Structures & Materials, 24(8), 2142–2152 (2022).
[4] Song, Y., et al. A novel cylindrical sandwich plate inspired by beetle elytra and its compressive properties. Science China Technological Sciences (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-023-2524-7