Tunable impact resistant materials: Synergistic enhancement of paraffin/MRP/re-entrant structures

In the realm of safety protection, there is a critical demand for materials capable of superior energy absorption and adaptability across diverse application scenarios. Here, this study presents integrated two-phase negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR) composites with adjustable mechanical properties sensitive to magnetic field, temperature and impact load. It is achieved by substituting the vacancy of re-entrant structures (frame phase) with soft paraffin/magnetorheological plastomer (MRP) fillers (matrix phase). The paraffin/MRP exhibits temperature-sensitive properties, enhanced magnetorheological (MR) effect (up to 4178%) and shear thickening (ST) effect (up to 2365%). Through quasi-static compression and dynamic impact tests, the composites demonstrate remarkable adaptability in impact resistance. Specifically, the first peak force exhibits responsiveness to changes in magnetic flux density, temperature, and impact velocity, with respective variations of 80.6%, 68.2%, and 30.3%. The design strategy paves the way for tunable impact resistant materials with potential for extreme environment buffering applications.