Improving pedestrian protection in vehicle impacts is achieved by the combination of proper shapes and materials in vehicle front end design. This may however conflict with other priorities regarding vehicle impact performance, such as damageability. It would be advantageous to have a single bumper system design that meets global legislative impact requirements. Alternative materials may provide the solution.

The composite material described in this paper is a blend of elastomeric capsules or beads in a matrix of Newtonian fluid. The material, which can be considered as a liquid analogy to elastomeric foams, is referred to as shock absorbing liquid or SALi.

SALi based shock absorbers have the ability to change their energy absorbing properties depending on the type of impact (velocity and size of the impacting body) that they are cushioning. Based on this ability, SALi based shock absorber devices could be beneficial for impact energy management applications because of their attendant response tailorability. However, prior to adopting SALi based devices for impact energy management applications several key issues need to be resolved.

The present study was focused on one of the most significant of these:​ the verification of the tunability of the response of such devices at different stroking velocities. Impact tests using an assisted drop tower facility were conducted on SALi based energy absorbers for a range of impact velocities. The results of the experimental tests conducted on SALi based shock absorbers are encouraging. The material shows innovative energy absorbing properties. Interpretation of the results described here provide for a better understanding of the fundamental behaviour of SALi based energy absorbers and provide a first step tool in optimising the design of energy absorbing bumper systems.