A key property in the manufacture of toecaps for protective footwear is resistance to impacts, deformations, and cracking, as the resulting defects may lead to serious workplace accidents involving the lower extremities. The present paper proposes a new approach to qualitative verification of toecap design based on numerical simulations of impact tests. Computational experiments were conducted for toecaps made from different materials (AISI 10450, S235, S355 and A36 steels, as well as Lexan polycarbonate) and characterized by different geometries, which were recreated by 3D scanning. The impact resistance of the toecaps was analyzed using a numerical model simulating an experimental impact test. The results were used to determine the location of critical stresses and to plot equivalent stress maps for the studied toecaps. The finite element analysis of the impact tests was carried out with an explicit elastoplastic finite element code: ANSYS (Ansys, Inc., Canonsburg, PA, USA) with the Explicit Dynamics module of the Workbench solver. The presented analysis of the impact resistance of toecaps by the finite element method for impact simulation may be used to optimize the spatial geometry of toecaps and to verify the construction of toecaps and the material deformations that may occur. In addition, it could eliminate unsuitable materials that are likely to undergo dangerous deformations, and draw attention to the deformation caused by the impact of the toecaps used in footwear in the working environment.
Keywords: finite element method; protective footwear; toecap impact test.