Crashworthiness behavior of thin-walled bimaterial tubes under axial collapse

•Crashworthiness performance of bi-tube is mainly affected by harder layer, wall thickness and material combination of inner/outer layers.•Adhesion maintenance between inner/outer layers results in increased energy absorption due to interaction effect.•Bi-tubes of harder outer layer and softer inner one revealed greater energy absorption due to adhesion maintenance.•Bi-tubes of softer outer layer and harder inner one revealed lower peak crushing force facilitating collapse initiation.