Improving the shock resistance of agricultural composite units using visco-elastic fluids

Introduction. The use of composite materials in agricultural engineering is known as one of the recommended ways to reduce the weight of the structure and protect against corrosion. The main disadvantages of such products are their low resistance to shock loads that occur during operation. The aim of this study is to develop a glass composite multi-layer structure of the trailer side, capable of withstanding shock loads along with statically applied forces, without including additional reinforcing metal elements in the zones of the possible impacts. Materials and Methods. To increase the impact resistance of the product (after an analysis of modern design solutions) the use of visco-elastic non-Newtonian fluids based on poly-silicon by introducing an additional layer into the power element to compensate for impact effects is proposed. Results. On the basis of laboratory testing using statistical processing of the obtained data, the basic mechanical characteristics of non-Newtonian fluid (polysilicon) during impact tests (density, Poisson's ratio, Young's modulus, shear modulus) are determined, and graphs of the obtained dependencies are constructed. The temperature of the tested poly-silicon samples did not significantly affect their mechanical properties. It is established that starting from the value of relative deformation 0.042, during the impact polysilicon shows linearly elastic properties. Discussion and Conclusion. Based on the received mechanical characteristics, the conclusions about resistance to shock loads of polysilicon as a component of a trailer board element are made. The variant of arrangement of the trailer board structural solution as a multilayer sandwich element with external parts made of polymer composite material with internal filling with fiberglass cells and polysilicon placed in large cells is offered.