Environmental and Physical Effects on the Response of Balsa Wood as an Energy Dissipator

Balsa wood, an RF transparent material, is known to be a structurally and materially efficient energy dissipator in an Earth environment. Initial investigations, which established the response of balsa wood at discrete levels of moisture content and temperature, have demonstrated that balsa wood develops high specific energy dissipation capacities at relatively low crushing stresses. These investigations have led to the design, fabrication, and prototype testing of spherical impact limiters using balsa wood as the energy-dissipating material.