Absorption of shock wave in the crystal films of metal-organic framework

The large mechanical energy storage capacity of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) has suggested their promising potential as shock protective armor materials. Here, we performed shock compression of MOF (ZIF-8) film to understand the shock attenuation mechanisms in MOFs and evaluate the shock absorption efficiency. The shock wave was generated from the impact of an aluminum flyer plate on ZIF-8 film on a table-top shock apparatus. We recovered the ZIF-8 crystal film after shock compression for post-mortem analysis. We found out that the shock wave was absorbed by MOFs through powder compaction, nanopore-collapse, and chemical bond-breakage that were activated at distinct shock energies. The energy profiles obtained from photon Doppler velocimetry shows that ZIF-8 films are more efficient than PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) in shock wave energy absorption.