Transverse shear stiffness of thickness gradient honeycombs

This paper describes the transverse shear stiffness of a novel topology of gradient honeycomb structures. Opposite to classical honeycomb configurations, gradient honeycombs feature elements of their unit cells with a regular geometry variation across the whole honeycomb panel. The tessellation of the cells is not periodic, but is dictated by geometric constraints between adjacent units. Gradient honeycombs with wall thickness linearly increasing along the panel are described using experimental data and Finite Element models. The gradient behaviour of the cellular structure provides additional complexity, and the possibility of tailoring design properties, such as the stiffness per unit of weight. We observe a good agreement between the Finite Element and the experimental results, with maximum percentage errors <7% for the shear moduli of the honeycombs.     

Paper-reinforced biomimetic cellular structures for automotive applications

The aim of this work was to make and test some sandwich structures, made of biomimetic cellular cores of recycled paper. In a preliminary study some paper laminates were investigated. Then two different kinds of cores were made by simple processes, according to two natural structures (i.e. feather and honeycomb). To evaluate the mechanical properties of these new sandwiches, static flexural, flatwise and edgewise compression tests were performed.     

A wire-woven cellular metal: Part-I, optimal design for applications as sandwich core

Wire-woven Bulk Kagome (WBK) is a new truss type cellular metal fabricated by systematic assembling of helical wires in six directions. WBK looks promising with respect to morphology, fabrication cost, and raw materials. In this paper, first, the geometry and the effect of the geometry such as the curved shape of the struts, which compose the truss structure of WBK, are elaborated. Then, analytic solutions for the material properties of WBK and the maximum loads withstood by a WBK-cored sandwich panel under bending are derived. Design optimization is carried out in two ways: one is based on the weight of the sandwich panel, and the other is based on the slenderness ratio of the WBK core. The performance of the WBK is evaluated and compared with those of other periodic cellular metals. With designs fully optimized with respect to the first way mentioned, the WBK-cored panel outperformed the octet counter part. With a specified constraint on the core thickness, the WBK truss core panel performed as well as a honeycomb cored panel.     

Multiscale modelling of the composite reinforced foam core of a 3D sandwich structure

A key objective dealing with 3D sandwich structures is to maximize the through-thickness stiffness, the strength of the core and the core to faces adhesion. The Napco^® technology was especially designed for improving such material properties and is under investigation in this paper. In particular, the potential of the process is characterized using a micromechanical modelling combined to a parametric probabilistic model. An experimental analysis is further detailed and validates the theoretical estimates of the core-related elastic properties. It is readily shown that the technology is able to produce parts with significantly improved mechanical properties. Finally, thanks to the probabilistic aspect of the modelling, the study allows to establish a link between the randomness of the process and the uncertainties of the final mechanical properties. Thus, the present approach can be used to optimize the technology as well as to properly design structures.     

The effect of temperature on the bending properties and failure mechanism of composite truss core sandwich structures

The effects of temperature on the bending properties and failure mechanism of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composite sandwich structure with pyramidal truss cores were investigated and presented in this paper. The three-point bending tests of composite sandwich structures were performed at seven different temperatures, and the scanning electron microscope was used to examine the fiber-matrix interface properties in order to understand the deformation and failure mechanism. Then the effects of temperature on deformation modes, failure mechanism and bending failure load were studied and analyzed. The results showed that the temperature has visible impact on the deformation modes, failure mechanism, and bending failure load. The bending failure load decreased as temperature increased, which was caused by the degradation of the matrix properties and fiber-matrix interface properties at high temperature. The analytical formulae were also presented to predict the bending stiffness and failure load of composite sandwich structures at different temperatures.     

Homogenization of the core layer in stitched sandwich structures

After highlighting the improvement of the mechanical performances involved by transverse reinforcement implementation in previous several studies, the mechanical behavior of stitched sandwich structures is analytically approached in this paper. The final purpose of this work is a modeling of the elastic performances of these structures. To predict the in-plane behavior, the classical theory of sandwiches is adapted and used by treating the foam core strengthened by stitches as a homogenized volume. This approach leads to the creation of an orthotropic equivalent core material. Its elastic properties depend on each component and their volume participation. The comparison between simulated and experimental values is quite good. The main interest of the multi-scale approach concerns a predictive tool. Indeed, it becomes realistic to obtain the elastic properties of stitched sandwich according to the geometrical parameters of the stitches and the mechanical properties of the components.     

Accurate buckling load calculations of a thick orthotropic sandwich panel

This paper is concerned with the buckling of thick sandwich panels with orthotropic elastic face sheets bonded to a linear elastic orthotropic core. When such panels are analyzed for axial load carrying capacity, it is now commonplace to adopt the finite element method to carry out computations. The accuracy of the numerical results will depend not only on roundoff and algorithmic errors, but additionally on the approximations made in computing the incremental (second order) work associated in computing the change of configuration from the unbuckled to the buckled state. Here we show that, particularly for orthotropic thick sandwich structures, large errors can be incurred in computing buckling loads with available commercial software, unless the proper work conjugate measures of stress and strain with their stress-dependent tangential moduli are used in the buckling formulation.     

Crack deflection analyses of different peel stopper designs for sandwich structures

This paper relates to a newly developed peel stopper concept for sandwich structures. The proposed concept is a specially designed core insert, which has the ability to confine face sheet debonding/delamination (peeling) by deflecting a delamination crack front away from the face/core interface into the bulk of the sandwich core, and thereby constraining the debonding/delamination to a limited prescribed area. In this paper various peel stopper designs are analysed for their ability to deflect cracks away from propagating along a face–core interface. The crack deflection ability of the studied peel stopper designs leads to design guidelines, which describes the minimum requirements regarding the relation between the two interface toughnesses. The analysis further reveals that compliant peel stopper wedges are preferred because they lead to the lowest interface toughness ratio requirement. This has been confirmed through an experiment with a sandwich beam subjected to three-point bending loading. The experiment has shown that the ability of a peel stopper to deflect cracks is highly dependent on the stiffness of the wedge.     

Simple stiffness tailoring of balsa sandwich core material

A concept for improving the shear stiffness properties of balsa core material for sandwich structures is presented. The concept is based on utilization of the strongly orthotropic properties of the balsa wood, applying an appropriate transverse layup sequence. The effective core material shear modulus is modeled using basic laminate theory. This is subsequently validated through sandwich beam bending and lap shear experiments. Compared to the standard balsa core systems, a substantial increase in the shear stiffness is demonstrated, whereas the transverse stiffness is reduced. The concept is suitable for mass production, using standard plywood fabrication technology.