ABSTRACT

In recent years, bicycle helmets have evolved so much in both design and selections of
materials. This is because of the importance to improve the safety requirement that is
promised in the design. Engineers have gone through the roots of the design itself;
engineering new materials to solve current and possible future problems in the application of
a bicycle helmet. This paper consists of a case study on the materials selection where we
discuss deeply why and how these materials are selected to fit the design. The study will help
establish the understanding on the structure and properties of the materials. It will also
explain the advantages and performance of using various materials and processes that the
materials will go through in the making of the bicycle helmet.

Contents
ABSTRACT........................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 3
MATERIALS PROPERTIES FOR BIKE HELMET........................................................5
DESCRIPTION OF APPLICATION.........................................................................11
ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASPECTS......................................14
ALTERNATIVE MATERIAL.................................................................................... 17

INTRODUCTION
In the field of mechanical engineering, the selection of material is a tedious task
because there are number of factors that have to be carefully evaluated before making the
final decision. Some of the main requirement may be the strength of a particular application,
but depending on the working environment and behaviour, several other factors may have to
be considered. The integrity of a design can be ensured only after a systematic material
selection procedure. Otherwise, the result it is highly susceptible for failures.
In the selection process, materials will be assessed for tensile strength and modulus,
flexural strength and modulus, impact strength, compressive strength, fatigue endurance,
creep, and stress-relaxation properties depending on the application. This will ensure that the
design will have a better probability of succeeding. It will also assure that the design is
technically fit to obtain desired properties.
There are numerous reports on cycling fatalities every year and it is a responsibility for
engineers to keep on improving the design conditions of helmets. In this particular design, the
number one priority is the protective feature that it should have. The use of bicycle helmets
helps to protect the brain and neck in the event of a crash. The material is supposed to have
an impact absorbing element or a crushable material to absorb the collision forces. Not only
that, a strap system is also important to make sure that the protection stays in place.
Bicycle helmet liners are mostly moulded in Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam. The liner
is the most important part of the helmet, the foam layer where the energy of the crash is
managed. It is the most common material used in a bicycle helmet and quite famous
economically. Still within the EPS world, the top end helmets require internal reinforcement,
usually to open up larger vents, and the techniques for including the reinforcements in the
mould and getting them to line up correctly are critical to the manufacturing process. The
reinforcement is normally buried in the foam and the user may not even be aware that it is
there, but it is essential to keep the models with larger vents from splitting on impact.
Although EPS is popular in the material selection of bicycle helmets, EPS has a low
reputation environmentally and there are more demands for greener materials to be used. To
meet this demand, some other greener foam has begun to emerge in the bicycle helmet
market, including Expanded Polypropylene (EPP), Expanded Polyurethane (EPU or PU),
rate-sensitive slow rebound foams and more.

The other feature to be considered would be the shell of the helmet. The shell for
inexpensive helmets is just stamped PET (the material used for bottled water containers) or a
similar plastic. It is usually glued onto the liner, then taped around the edge for appearance,
although some use no glue and others have no tape. For more expensive helmets the shell is
included in the mould when the liner is expanded from the bead, and must therefore be
polycarbonate or another higher quality plastic that can take the heat of the mold (PET would
melt).
Helmet straps are generally made of nylon or polypropylene. They all look similar, but
vary considerably in fabric, surface finish, weave and other subtle characteristics. For helmets
with glued-on shells they are added to the liner before the shell is glued on, and usually run
across the top of the liner, covered by the shell, or occasionally over the top of the shell. This
is not possible when a helmet is moulded in the shell, since the heat of the moulding process
would damage the webbing. Straps are added to the helmet after it comes out of the mould,
usually with a more sophisticated anchor that sits on top of the helmet shell after the strap is
threaded through. Helmets with hard shells usually have the straps riveted or otherwise
attached to the shell. The buckle is the last major piece of the helmet, and it is added when
the straps are installed.

MATERIALS PROPERTIES FOR BIKE HELMET.

This task is an educational case study on the material properties of bicycle helmet
(bike helmet). The idea of this task is to increase the knowledge of the student of the case
study. For this part, it will involve physical aspect of materials which is the properties of the
selected materials. There are three basic parts of bike helmets that including liner, shell and
straps. There are many special components can be added on the helmets during the
manufacturing or assembly processes. Hair port, visor, washable antibacterial padding and
ventilation part are the examples of the special components.
The most important part of the bike helmet is the liner. Liner is the foam layer of the
bicycle helmet where the energy of the crash is managed. Most of the bicycle helmet liners
are molded in Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam. It is also one of the crushable foam. EPS
can be made in layers with different densities to tune the impact management, permitting
softer layers to crush in lesser impacts. The harder layers are responsible to handle a really
bad hit between the cyclist and the impact. Sometimes the density of the EPS is varied around
vents or certain areas of the helmet to permit the helmet to meet impact standards while
thinning the liner. Foam density is measured by weighing the liner, place it in water and
weighing the amount of water displaced and the weight will be compared.
EPS is formed by placing polystyrene beads (granules) about the size of table salt in a
pressure mold shaped like the helmet liner and expanding bead from 2 to 50 times with a
blowing agent under pressure and heat. The beads will expand and fill the mold. The forming
process of the foam may not be uniform if the steam/pentane temperature is not in the right
and the pressure is off a little. There will be hidden recesses where granules did not expand
correctly. Additives can be added to increase cell adhesion and to colour the foam.

Figure 1: Example of Raw Beads and EPS

EPS is chose to be used in making the liner of bike helmet because of it material
properties. It shows that EPS has a low cost of production because all foams generally are
cheap to manufacture because they are all good insulators. It is also said that EPS has a good
energy efficiency which means it use less energy to provide the same service or a way of
managing and restraining the growth in energy consumption.
Other than that, EPS is used because it has a constant thermal resistance. Thermal
resistance is a heat property and a measurement of a temperature difference by which an
object or material resists a heat flow. It is also a reciprocal of thermal conductance which is
the quantity of heat that passes in unit time through a plate of particular area and thickness
(the granules) when it opposite faces differ in temperature by one Kelvin. Also, the
mechanical strength of EPS varies with its density. EPS has a high strength to weight ratios
and the tensile strength ranges is from 20 to 400kPa according to type of products.
In addition, the main properties that we should consider while making a bicycle
helmet is the lightweight properties. Hence, EPS is the most suitable material because it is a
lightweight cellular plastic material. EPS also has always been CFC and HCFC free.

Figure 2: The Use of EPS in the Bike Helmet

The second component of bicycle helmet is the shell. In Australia, before the helmet
law was introduced, the cyclist only used the standard helmet which has a hard shell helmet.
The hard shell helmets do provide protection to the head or to lower the possibility of brain
injury but it is not comfortable and heavy. It is not suitable for a cycling activity especially
for the children. This caused compulsory to wear a bike helmets more difficult and people
tend to not wear it while cycling. To facilitate the compulsory helmet wearing, the Australia
government degraded a standard to accommodate a soft-shell helmets which is more
comfortable.
The hard shell helmet is still available and the impact of energy management will not
much different from the thin/soft shell models because all are designed to the same CPSC
standard. The price of the soft shell helmet may differ according to their process of
manufacturing. The shell for the inexpensive helmets is just stamped PET (polyethylene
terephthalate) or any similar plastic. The PET is also use to make water bottle. The material is
usually glued onto the liner, then taped around the edge for appearance, although some use no
glue and others have no tape.

For more expensive helmets, the shell is included in the mold when the liner is
expanded from the bead. Then it will be polycarbonate or another higher quality plastic that
can take the heat of the mold (PET would melt). The process for manufacturing a
polycarbonate helmet shell is completely different than the process of making composite
shell. The PET is use and it arrives as tiny beads, shipped in big containers, then is fed into
the helmet shell molding machines where it is melted and pumped into a helmet shell mold.

Figure 3: Raw Material of PET

In this case, no glue is required since the shell is bonded to the liner in the mold. This
technique will give yield stronger helmets. To obtain a better performance especially for
impact resistance and thermal resistance, the General Electric Lexan (EXL) is use compare to
Acrylonitrle Butadiene Styrene (ABS).
Generally, polyethylene terephthalate, PET is a hard, stiff, strong, dimensionally
stable material that absorbs very little water. The helmet shell is made to resist water so that it
would not absorb water while cycling in the rainy day. It also has a good gas barrier
properties and good chemical resistance except to alkalis. That means the strength of PET to
protect against chemical attack or solvent reaction. It determines a materials resistivity to
corrosive environments. PET can be semi-rigid to rigid and it is very lightweight, hence it is
suitable to produce a soft shell helmet.
Furthermore, PET also has an intrinsic viscosity which found by extrapolating to zero
concentration of relative viscosity to concentration. The longer the polymer chains the more
entanglements between chains and therefore the higher the viscosity. The used of PET in the
helmet shell is believe can be recycle and save resources.

Figure 4: Example of Bicycle Helmet Shell

The last basic component of a bike helmet is the straps. Generally, the straps are made
of nylon or polypropylene. All of the straps either for motorcycle or bicycle looks similar, nut
vary considerably in fabric, surface finish, weave and other subtle characteristics. For the
helmets with glued-on shells, the strap is added to the liner before the shell is glued on and
usually run across the top of the liner, covered by the shell or occasionally over the top of the
shell. It is not possible when helmet is molded in the shell, since the heat of the molding
process would damage the webbing.
Straps are added to the helmet after it comes out of the mold usually with a more
sophisticated anchor that sits on top of the helmet shell after the strap is threaded through.
Helmet with hard shells usually have the straps riveted or otherwise attached to the shell. As
for high-end helmets, the straps is attached at the rear of the helmets to function as an
occipital stabilizer, varying from just a strap to a complex plastic piece, that engages the
occipital lobe of the head (the lump on the back of the head). This feature can give many
forms of adjustment, including knobs, cans, toothed sliders and more.
One of the properties of nylon that is used to make the helmet strap is durability
which means the straps can withstand wear and tear or decay. The straps also are able to
perform or complete over a long period. In addition, polypropylene strap is the commodity
plastic with the lowest density. With a lower density, the molding parts with lower weight and

more parts of a certain mass of plastic can be produced. The other reason why the
manufacturer use polypropylene is it is reasonable economical.

Figure 5: Straps on the Helmet

DESCRIPTION OF APPLICATION
LINER

EXPANDABLE POLYSTRENE (EPS)

MAIN APPLICATION MARKET IN EUROPE

Building & Insulation applications

EPS resins are among the most popular materials for building and construction applications.
EPS insulation foam are used in closed cavity walls, roofs, floor insulation and more. With its
excellent price/performance ratio EPS is also used in pontoons and road construction. In
addition to its traditional insulation application in the construction industry, EPS foam also
finds a wide use in civil engineering and building: road foundations, void forming, flotation,
drainage, impact sound insulation, modular construction elements, cellular bricks, etc. They
all exploit the excellent mechanical properties of EPS combined with fast construction /
assembly and low subsequent maintenance.

Packaging applications
Eggs, meat, fish and poultry. Cold drinks or carry-out meals. All these products are safely
packed with EPS packaging materials; by doing so spoilage of foods is prevented. In the
western world a combination of good packaging, refrigeration and transportation ensures that
only two percent of food is lost through spoilage, compared with 50 percent in developing
countries. No matter what your products package, EPS have long been recognized as a
versatile and cost-effective solution for foods and goods packaging.
Expensive TV's and all kind of IT equipment travel safely from the production line to the
consumer's houses. EPS is the leading choice for electronic goods cushioning.

Crash helmet
Apart from the typical application in construction and packaging, EPS protective qualities
can also be used in crash helmets - protecting the heads and potentially the lives of cyclists,
or into surface and other decoration ranging from simple printing of a brand name to an
elaborate pictorial representation achieved by mould engraving, or for fun and sports with
e.g. windsurfing board.

SHELL
POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE
PET (also abbreviated PETE) is short for polyethylene terephthalate, the chemical name for
polyester.
PET is a clear, strong, and lightweight plastic that is widely used for packaging foods and
beverages, especially convenience-sized soft drinks, juices and water. Virtually all singleserving and 2-liter bottles of carbonated soft drinks and water sold in the U.S. are made from
PET.
It is also popular for packaging salad dressings, peanut butter, cooking oils, mouthwash,
shampoo, liquid hand soap, window cleaner, even tennis balls. Special grades of PET are
used for carry-home food containers and prepared food trays that can be warmed in the oven
or microwave.
Common PET product: take out containers, baked goods containers, bottled water, ketchup,
jars (peanut butter and mayonnaise), juices and carbonated drinks, frozen foods, cosmetics,
household products.

POLYCARBONATE
Automotive
Polycarbonate molded mirror housings, tail lights, turn signals, back-up lights, fog lights, and
headlamps all contribute to a vehicles unique style.

Packaging
Polycarbonate bottles, containers and tableware can withstand extreme stress during use and
cleaning, including sterilization. They can be used to serve, freeze and reheat food in the
microwave making those time and energy savers. Shatterproof and virtually unbreakable,
polycarbonate is a safer alternative to glass.

Appliances & Consumer Goods

Polycarbonates molding flexibility styling and coloring possibilities make it perfect for use
in electric kettles, fridges, food mixers, electrical shavers and hairdryers, while fulfilling all
safety requirements such as heat resistance and electrical insulation.

Electrical & Electronics

Polycarbonates light weight and impact- and shatter-resistant qualities make it perfect for
housing cell phones, computers, fax machines, and pagers while at the same time
withstanding the bangs, scratches and accidental drops of everyday use.

STRAPS
NYLON OR POLYPROPYLENE
Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide
variety of applications including packaging and labeling, textiles (e.g., ropes, thermal
underwear and carpets), stationery, plastic parts and reusable containers of various types,
laboratory equipment, loudspeakers, automotive components, and polymer banknotes. An
addition polymer made from the monomer propylene, it is rugged and unusually resistant to
many chemical solvents, bases and acids

ECONOMICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASPECTS

Ethics
Medical research into helmets has assumed that cycling is comparatively risky; there
never was any significant risk assessment completed to justify helmet promotion. This
represents a serious failure of due diligence. It is now known that previously sedentary people
who start regular cycling may expect to enjoy reductions in mortality rates greater than after
giving up cigarette smoking. Since the actual risks of cycling fall in the same range as for
walking and driving, helmet promotion directed only at cyclists should be recognized as a
serious threat to healthy public perceptions.
In addition, it is misleading to publish only a subset of the evidence when the wider
evidence might lead to a different conclusion, but this has sometimes been the case. There is
a lot of emotional association with helmet research and some researchers may be too
committed to a particular outcome to allow them to be as dispassionate as good scientific
research requires. One paper that has attracted much criticism purported to show that a
helmet law could be introduced without deterring cycle use. The authors failed to mention
that the law was never enforced, that there had been a considerable fall in cycling prior to the
law when heavy promotion took place and that, although there was no further fall in cycling
after the law, there was no increase in helmet use either.
Publication bias is a problem that affects all research, whereby papers are only offered
for publication and then published if they support the 'right conclusions', whether this be to
meet the prejudices of the authors or publishers or established societal norms. Sometimes
published helmet research has given more prominence to speculation about helmet benefits
than to much stronger evidence that is less supportive of helmet use.
There are other forms of bias, too, such as failing to allow for independent trends and
missing data. Indeed, helmet research has been bedeviled with confounding influences.
Another matter of ethical concern is conflict of interest that has damaged the reputation of the
Cochrane Review.

Commercial interests
The manufacture and sale of cycle helmets is a highly profitable multi-billion dollar
international business, dominated by a few large companies.
These companies have given money to campaigning organizations that seek to boost helmet
use and introduce legislation.
The claims made by helmet manufacturers for their products are very modest
compared with those made by lobby groups and they do not claim that a helmet will protect
from death. However, the industry has been active in promulgating the results of pro-helmet
research by others, even where this predicts benefits from helmet use well in excess of what
manufacturers feel able to justify.
In many countries, industry campaigns to boost helmet sales in countries where
helmet use is low have been driven by purely commercial considerations.
Health and cycling
The health benefits of cycling are substantial. Indeed, cycling regularly is the single
most effective thing that a person can do to improve their health and increase longevity.
Conversely, however, cycling less perhaps as a result of being deterred by helmet laws or
the exaggerated perceptions of risk generated to promote helmet wearing results in
considerable health loss to both individuals and society. Obesity is a major health problem in
western countries, particularly those with helmet laws. Very few people who cycle regularly
become obese.
One of the most common forms of brain injury is as a result of strokes, the risk of
which is much reduced through cycling. It would take only a small number of people to be
deterred from cycling by helmet promotion or laws for there to be a net increase in brain
injuries.
The World Health Organization has developed a Health Economic Assessment Tool to
estimate the economic savings resulting from reductions in mortality as a consequence of
regular cycling and/or walking. Applying the tool to UK data suggests that a hypothetical
helmet law would cost society between GBP 304 and GBP 415 annually and lead to an
additional 253 premature deaths per year.

Safe though cycling is, the best proven way to improve the safety of cycling further is
through the encouragement of more people to cycle. Cycle helmet promotion and laws, on the
other hand, discourage cycle use and thereby lead to worse health and safety.
Effects of head injury
Head injury can result in death or disastrous long-term physical and mental disability.
Such injuries have happened to cyclists, and such cases have given powerful stimulus to
political activity. A helmet testing specialist states that some of these accidents can generate
energy levels beyond those used when certifying competition motor racing helmets. One
study which examined post-mortem examinations of the twenty cyclist fatalities in Auckland,
New Zealand between 1974 and 1984 found that sixteen died of fatal injury to multiple organ
systems, including fourteen with fatal brain injuries; four died solely of brain trauma.
Injury prevention
The largest metastudy ever conducted on the relationship between bicycle helmets and
injuries was published in 2016, comprising a synthesis of 40 separate studies from 11
countries, involving approximately 64,000 injured cyclists. The findings were as follows:

Wearing a helmet reduces the probability of a head injury by 50%.

Wearing a helmet reduces the probability of a serious head injury by 69%.

Wearing a helmet reduces the probability of a fatal head injury by 65%.

Wearing a helmet reduces the probability of a facial injury by 33%.

Neck injuries were extremely rare and not correlated with helmet use.

There was no evidence of time trends or publication bias.

Environment
If fewer people cycle and transfer to other modes of transport, overall pollution is
likely to increase. Per kilometer of travel, a car can use about 30 times more energy than
cycling. In Australia, transport emissions rose 30% between 1990 and 2005 and this is
expected to soar 67% above 1990 levels by 2020. In addition to discouraging cycling and
causing environmental harm, helmets use petroleum products in their manufacture contributing to environmental damage.

ALTERNATIVE MATERIAL
Liners:
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) foam (mostly used)
It is the white picnic cooler foam that you see eggs and stereo gear packed in. It is
cheap to manufacture, light, and has almost ideal crush characteristics with no bounce-back
to make the impact more severe.
EPS is formed by placing polystyrene beads (granules) about the size of table salt in a
pressure mold shaped like the helmet liner and expanding the bead from 2 to 50 times with a
blowing agent like pentane under pressure and heat. The cells are tightly bonded--under
ideal conditions. Under poor conditions the steam/pentane temperature is not just right or the
pressure is off a little and the foaming may not be uniform, or there may be hidden recesses
where the granules did not expand correctly. (A helmet liner with such a recess "rattles" with
unexpanded beads inside when shaken.) The foaming is often done by a "foam shop" outside
the manufacturer's plant, and the challenge for helmet quality control programs is to design
testing that will catch any problem liners. Foam density is measured by weighing the liner,
then placing it in water and weighing the amount of water displaced, and comparing the two
weights.

Other materials for liners:

Expanded Polypropylene (EPP) foam
EPP very similar in appearance to EPS. EPP is a multi-impact foam, recovering its
shape and most of its impact protection slowly after a crash. It can be trickier to work
with than EPS, costs a little more, and has a modest amount of rebound (in technical
terms a less favorable coefficient of restitution) that usually requires a little bit thicker
helmet than one using EPS.
Expanded Polyurethane (EPU) foam

EPU is another crushable foam similar to EPS. It has a dense, fine and very uniform
cell structure. It skins over in the mold to form a surface shell that is adequate to
protect the bottom part of the helmet from some dings and adds to the esthetic appeal.
It is heavier than EPS and has a very solid feel.
Shells:
Polycarbonate plastic (PC)
Polycarbonate is used for its high strength and it does not melt in the hot mold. It can
molded well when the liner is expanded from the bead. It is also have a very high
impact resistance and good UV resistance. It is light and easy to machine with normal
tools
Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) or polyester
The shell for inexpensive helmets is just stamped PET (the material used for bottled
water containers) or a similar plastic. It has lower strength shell material but it still
maintaining the required level of impact protection. It is usually glued onto the liner,
then taped around the edge for appearance, although some use no glue and others
have no tape.
Acrylnitrile-butadiene -styrene (ABS)
ABS is also light and easy machining with normal tools but it slightly lower impact
resistance and low UV resistance compared with PC.
Straps:
Polyethylene
Vary considerably in fabric, surface finish, and weave. The break strength which can
withstand the impact and stress for this material is excellent. It has excellent abrasion
resistance and good water resistance. It also has a good fiber stretch which make the
strap not loose easily when impact
Nylon
Nylon also have a good break strength and fiber stretch. It also has a good abrasion
resistance and water resistance. If compare with polyethylene, polyethylene has a
better properties than nylon.