New material claims better deforming and cooling

In our recent article, we talked about one of the four basic components of a helmet: the Impact Absorbing Liner or what most riders call the "styrofoam" inside a helmet. Although it may look like styrofoam, it is made from expanded polystyrene (EPS) and is denser. Its job is to absorb as much impact as possible to minimize head injury in the event of a crash.

This material, however, is very susceptible to the elements and its effectiveness deteriorates over time, that's why as discussed in the article, Motorcycle Gear: When to change your helmet, head protection must be replaced every 5 years.

For the longest time, engineers and researchers have sought for a material that could perform better than EPS, which has been used in helmets for more than 20 years now. A company based in Monaco claims to have developed a new impact-absorbing liner material that surpasses EPS, called Koroyd.

Dr. Priya Prassad Ph.D. is Koroyd's lead scientific consultant, who has studied accident data for over 40 years. He is also amongst the world’s most respected experts in injury biomechanics. Unlike the EPS, Koroyd is made up of miniature polymer tubes that are bonded together, forming a honeycomb which was said to be able to absorb shock better and more efficiently.

EPS liners inside helmets may soon become obsolete image

Also, Koroyd deforms up to 84% versus EPS' 60%, making it superior and providing the motorcycle rider better head protection. Since it's structure is a honeycomb, Koroyd claims that it has far superior cooling properties as well, compared to EPS.

So far, there are only two motorcycle helmets available in the market that have the Koroyd technology and they are not cheap. Klim, one of the leading motorcycle adventure gear manufacturers has teamed up with Koroyd for their Klim Krios Pro and F5 Koroyd motorcycle helmets. These helmets currently retail at approximately PhP36,500 and PhP34,000 respectively (converted from USD).

For now, it is still expensive, but with further research and mass production, this is something we could expect to see inside our helmets in the near future, and hopefully, cheaper too.

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