San Antonio’s Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and the University of Texas at San Antonio will collaborate to create new innovative military helmet pads aimed to prevent traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Service members are regularly exposed to the risks of traumatic brain injury with blasts, blunt trauma, and ballistic impacts.
The helmet will include multi-behavior padding that becomes soft or stiff depending on the type of impact the wearer experiences.
Blunt impact, like a fall, would cause the padding to soften as a cushion against the blow. Ballistic impact from shrapnel or a bullet will make the padding stiffen to prevent injury to the skull or brain.
“The increasing incidence of TBI among military service members shows a pressing need for enhance protective equipment in combat and training environments,” said Daniel Portillo, lead project researcher with SwRI, in a press release. “The widespread use of improvised explosive devices and firearms has made TBIs particularly prevalent, and helmets are the primary form of protection against skull and brain injuries.”
Researchers will utilize computer analysis of the human brain response to evaluate how effective padding would be in reducing the likelihood of brain injury.
3D printing technology is expected to be used to build the helmet pads.
Their ability to mitigate injury under various levels of ballistic and blunt impacts will be tested using real-world simulations.
The project is supported by a $125,00 grant from the Connecting through Research Partnerships (Connect) program.
