Insight into the shear behaviour of composite sandwich panels with foam core

While sandwich construction offers well-known advantages for high stiffness with light weight, the problem of designing the sandwich structure to withstand shear loading remains an important problem. This problem is more difficult with lower stiffness foam cores under high shear loading because the core is typically the weakest component of the structure and is the first one to fail in shear under the assuming of perfect contact between the skin and the foam core. In the present study, the shear response of the composite sandwich panels with Polyvinylchloride (PVC) foam core was investigated. The PVC H100 foam core is sandwiched between Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) skins using epoxy resin to build a high performance sandwich panel to be investigated. Experiments have been carried out to characterise the mechanical response of the constituent materials under tension, compression and shear loading. Static shear tests for the sandwich panel reveal that the main failure mode is the delamination between the skin and the core rather than shearing the core itself due to the considerable value of the shear strength of the PVC foam. The Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of the sandwich structure shows that shear response and failure mode can be predicted, but that accurate predictions require a consideration of the non-linear response of the foam core. The results have a direct application in predicting the ability of the sandwich structure to withstand the shear loading.     

Experimental and numerical evaluation of the mechanical behaviour of GFRP sandwich panels

This work deals with the analysis of the mechanical behaviour of a class of sandwich structures widely employed in marine constructions, constituted by fiber-glass laminate skins over PVC foam or polyester mat cores. In detail, a systematic experimental study and numerical simulations have shown that the theoretical prediction of the strength and the actual failure mechanism of these sandwich structures can be affected by significant errors, specially in the presence of prevalent shear loading. Moreover, because of the low shear stiffness and the elastic constants mismatch of the skins and core material, failure modes and strength are strongly influenced by eventual stresses orthogonal to the middle plane of the sandwich. In particular, for the sandwich structures with a PVC foam core, such a stress interaction leads to early skin–core delamination failure, whereas for those with a polyester core it leads to core shear-cohesive failure. By means of accurate non-linear simulations, accurate failure criteria, that can be used at the design stage in the presence of complex loading, have also been developed.     

The Effect of Load and Geometry on the Failure Modes of Sandwich Beams

Facing compressive failure, facing wrinkling and core shear failure are the most commonly encountered failure modes in sandwich beams with facings made of composite materials. The occurrence and sequence of these failure modes depends on the geometrical dimensions, the form of loading and type of support of the beam. In this paper the above three failure modes in sandwich beams with facings made of carbon/epoxy composites and cores made of aluminum honeycomb and two types of foam have been investigated. Two types of beams, the simply supported and the cantilever have been considered. Loading included concentrated, uniform and triangular. It was found that in beams with foam core facing wrinkling and core shear failure occur, whereas in beams with honeycomb core facing compressive failure and core shear crimping take place. Results were obtained for the dependence of failure mode on the geometry of the beam and the type of loading. The critical beam spans for failure mode transition from core shear to wrinkling failure were established. It was found that initiation of a particular failure mode depends on the properties of the facing and core materials, the geometrical configuration, the type of support and loading of sandwich beams.     

Compressive fracture features of syntactic foams-microscopic examination

Syntactic foams made by mechanical mixing of polymeric binder and hollow spherical particles are used as core materials in sandwich structured materials. Low density of such materials makes them suitable for weight sensitive applications. The present study correlates various postcompression microscopic observations in syntactic foams to the localized events leading the material to fracture. Depending upon local stress conditions the fracture features of syntactic foam are identified for various modes of fracture such as compressive, shear and tensile. Microscopic observations were also taken at sandwich structures containing syntactic foam as core materials and also at reinforced syntactic foam containing glass fibers. These observations provide conclusive evidences for the fracture features generated under different failure modes. All the microscopic observations were taken using scanning electron microscope in secondary electron mode.     

全厚度缝合复合材料泡沫芯夹层结构力学性能研究与损伤容限评定

探索了全厚度缝合复合材料闭孔泡沫芯夹层结构低成本制造的工艺可行性及其潜在的结构效益。选用3 种夹层结构形式, 即相同材料和工艺制造的未缝合泡沫芯夹层和缝合泡沫芯夹层结构及密度相近的Nomex 蜂窝夹层结构, 完成了密度测定、三点弯曲、平面拉伸和压缩、夹层剪切、结构侧压和损伤阻抗/ 损伤容限等7 项实验研究。结果表明, 泡沫芯夹层结构缝合后, 显著提高了弯曲强度/ 质量比、弯曲刚度/ 质量比、面外拉伸和压缩强度、剪切强度和模量、侧压强度和模量、冲击后压缩(CAI) 强度和破坏应变。这种新型结构形式承载能力强、结构效率高、制造维护成本低, 可以在飞机轻质机体结构设计中采用。      

Debonding in foam-core sandwich panels

The strain energy release rate is used to give a criterion for debonding in structural sandwich beams with isotropic faces and a foam core. The critical strain energy release rate of the interface is measured on double-shear specimens and the results of the debonding analysis are compared with experiments on sandwich beams with aluminium faces and foamed polyurethane cores. The analysis describes debonding failure well. Comparison of the load for bebonding with that for other failure modes shows that debonding occurs only if relatively large cracks exist at the interface between the face and the core.     

Dynamic response of clamped sandwich beam with aluminium alloy foam core subjected to impact loading

The dynamic response of clamped sandwich beam with aluminium alloy open-cell foam core subjected to impact loading is investigated in the paper. The face sheet and the core of the sandwich beam have the different thickness. And the sandwich beam is impacted by a steel projectile in the mid-span. The impact force is recorded by using accelerometer. The results show that tensile crack and core shear are the dominant failure modes. And the impact velocity and the thickness of the face sheet and the foam core have a significant influence on the failure modes and the impact forces. Combining with the inertia effect and experimental results, the failure mechanisms of the sandwich beams are discussed. The thickness of the foam core plays an important role in the failure mechanism of the sandwich beam. In present paper, the failure of the sandwich beam with a thin core is dominated by the bending moment, while the sandwich beam with a thick core fails by bending deformation in the front face sheet and the bottom face sheet in opposite direction due to the plastic hinges in the front face sheet.     

Unequal Faces Effect on Fracture of Composite Sandwich Beam with Flexible Core

Sandwich panel higher order theory (SPHOT) which estimates core compression and face stresses is used to predict damage modes of a sandwich beam with unequal faces. It is shown that sandwich panel classical theory (SPCT) which is based on investigating of behavior of the structure with considering core shear stress in simply supported boundary conditions and neglecting shear modulus of core can not predict the failure load in the case of unequal faces when core yielding is happened. Comparing the results obtained by SPHOT, SPCT and available experimental ones shows that the higher order theory is a suitable approach to predict failure loads in this case for different damage modes.     

Examination of the failure of sandwich beams with core junctions subjected to in-plane tensile loading

The paper concerns local effects occurring in the vicinity of junctions between different cores in sandwich beams subjected to tensile in-plane loading. It is known from analytical and numerical modelling that these effects display themselves by an increase of the bending stresses in the faces as well as the core shear and transverse normal stresses at the junction. The local effects have been studied experimentally to assess the influence on the failure behaviour both under quasi-static and fatigue loading conditions. Typical sandwich beam configurations with aluminium and glass-fibre reinforced plastic (GFRP) face sheets and core junctions between polymer foams of different densities and rigid plywood or aluminium were investigated. Depending on the material configuration of the sandwich beam, premature failure accumulating at the core junction was observed for quasi-static and/or fatigue loading conditions. Using Aluminium face sheets, quasi-static loading caused failure at the core junction, whereas no significance of the junction was observed for fatigue loading. Using GFRP faces, a shift of the failure mode from premature core failure in quasi-static tests to face failure at the core junction in fatigue tests was observed. In addition to the failure tests, the sandwich configurations have been analysed using finite element modelling (FEM) to elaborate on the experimental results with respect to failure prediction. Both linear modelling and nonlinear modelling including nonlinear material behaviour (plasticity) was used. Comparing the results from finite element modelling with the failure behaviour observed in the quasi-static tests, it was found that a combination of linear finite element modelling and a point stress criterion to evaluate the stresses at the core junction can be used for brittle core material constituents. However, this is generally not sufficient to predict the failure modes and failure loads properly. Using nonlinear material properties in the modelling and a point strain criterion improves the failure prediction especially for ductile materials, but this has to be examined further along with other failure criteria.     

齿板-玻璃纤维混合夹层结构弯曲性能试验

提出了一种齿板-玻璃纤维混合面板和泡沫芯材组成的新型混合夹层结构,齿板通过齿钉与泡沫芯材相连。该结构采用真空导入成型工艺制备,通过三点弯曲试验研究该结构在不同跨度以及不同芯材密度情况下的破坏模式和弯曲性能,并与普通泡沫夹层结构进行对比分析,同时探究了齿板对该结构界面性能的影响。结果表明:在泡沫芯材密度为35kg/m~3、80kg/m~3和150kg/m~3情况下,齿板-玻璃纤维混合泡沫夹层梁弯曲承载能力与普通泡沫夹层梁相比分别提高了168%、211%和258%,其界面剪切强度依次为0.09 MPa、0.21 MPa和0.45 MPa;随着芯材密度和跨度的变化,该结构主要产生芯材剪切和芯材凹陷两种破坏形态,齿板的嵌入有效抑制界面的剪切失效。另外,利用理论公式估算了试件受弯极限承载能力,理论值与实测值吻合较好。     

复合材料双向波纹夹层结构力学性能

为改进传统单向波纹夹层结构横向力学性能较差的缺点,设计了一种新型复合材料双向波纹夹层结构。考虑复合材料双向夹层结构制备困难,研究了整套真空辅助成型工艺(VARI)工艺制备方案,实现双向波纹夹层结构的高效制备,以满足工程应用的需要。对制备出的复合材料双向波纹夹层结构与单向波纹夹层结构分别进行面外压缩、弯曲和剪切实验,分析了双向波纹夹层结构在不同载荷下的破坏模式及其失效机制,计算了该结构在不同荷载条件下的强度和模量,并将其与单向波纹夹层结构进行对比分析。结果表明,在压缩荷载作用下,玻璃纤维/环氧树脂芯子为主要承载部分,结构的失效主要体现在芯子的屈曲、断裂和分层;在弯曲荷载的作用下,由于纤维的抗压强度远小于抗拉强度,所以压头下方的上面板最先达到破坏荷载,结构的弯曲失效形式主要为上面板的断裂和脱粘;结构的剪切失效主要以泡沫与面板的脱粘和压溃为主,芯子和面板未见明显的破坏现象;与单向波纹夹层结构相比,双向波纹夹层结构力学性能显著提升。      

玻璃纤维立体织物增强环氧树脂泡沫夹层复合材料的制备及力学性能

为了进一步提高泡沫夹层复合材料的承载能力和综合性能,实现其在轨道交通及汽车等工业领域的应用,开展了玻璃纤维立体织物增强环氧树脂泡沫(GF-Fabric/EP)复合材料的制备及其力学性能的研究。制备GF-Fabric/EP复合材料及其夹层结构,探索了GF-Fabric/EP复合材料及其夹层结构的失效行为,以揭示立体织物的增强机制。结果表明：立体织物的引入可显著改善GF-Fabric/EP复合材料的强度、刚度及破坏应变;但在不同承载条件下,各纱线发挥承载作用和效果不同。面板、芯材各自的性能、尺寸及面/芯界面性能均是影响GF-Fabric/EP夹层复合材料力学性能及失效特征的重要因素。以三点加载下的弯曲性能为例,针对不同的GF-Fabric/EP夹层复合材料,需调整跨厚比和试样尺寸并获得理想的失效特征,方可对其弯曲性能或层间剪切性能进行有效、合理的评价。     

The influence of core properties on the perforation resistance of sandwich structures – An experimental study

The aim of this study is to investigate the perforation resistance of a range of foam-based sandwich structures. Nine foams, based on a crosslinked PVC, a linear PVC and PET, have been combined with thin glass fibre reinforced plastic skins to produce a range of lightweight sandwich structures, Initially, the mechanical properties of the different foams are characterised. Here, a new test geometry is used to evaluate the toughness characteristics and strengths of the foams under shear loading, a condition similar to that encountered during the impact perforation event.The influence of the plastic collapse stress of the foam in determining the failure thresholds of the front and rear composite skins is established. Here, an existing model has been used to successfully predict failure of the top surface composite skin in the sandwich structures. In addition, the force associated with perforating the lightweight core has been shown to be strongly dependent on the shear strength of the polymer foam. Finally, the perforation resistance of the sandwich structure has been shown to be closely linked to the Mode II work of fracture of the foam material. Here a unique relationship has been established between these two parameters, with all of the experimental points lying on one curve.     

泡沫铝层合梁的三点弯曲变形

研究了泡沫铝层合梁三点弯曲的载荷(P)-位移(δ)曲线、变形过程及面板破坏、夹芯剪切破坏、凹陷破坏等破坏模式。用极限载荷公式得到的计算值与实验值符合良好。实验所得的加载和卸载刚度(P/δ)与计算结果吻合较好。泡沫铝层合梁具有较低的密度((0.42～0.92)×10~3kg/m~3)和很高的弯曲比刚度(E~(1/2)/ρ)。利用极限载荷公式建立了破坏模式图。     

The structural response of clamped sandwich beams subjected to impact loading

The structural response of dynamically loaded monolithic and sandwich beams made of aluminum skins with different cores is determined by loading the end-clamped beams at mid-span with metal foam projectiles. The sandwich beams comprise aluminum honeycomb cores and closed-cell aluminum foam cores. Laser displacement transducer was used to measure the permanent transverse deflection of the back face mid-point of the beams. The resistance to shock loading is evaluated by the permanent deflection at the mid-span of the beams for a fixed magnitude of applied impulse and mass of beam. It is found that sandwich beams with two kind cores under impact loading can fail in different modes. Experimental results show the sandwich beams with aluminum honeycomb cores present mainly large global deformation, while the foam core sandwich beams tend to local deformation and failure, but all the sandwich beams had a higher shock resistance, then the monolithic beam. For each type of beams, the dependence of transverse deflection upon the magnitude of the applied impulse is measured. Moreover, the effects of face thickness and core thickness on the failure and deformation modes were discussed. Results indicated that the structural response of sandwich beams is sensitive to applied impulse and structural configuration. The experimental results are of worth to optimum design of cellular metallic sandwich structures.     

Structure and mechanics of the iris leaf

The structure of the iris leaf resembles that of a sandwich beam with fibre composite faces separated by a low-density foam core. Such structures have a high specific stiffness because the separation of the faces by the lightweight core increases the moment of inertia of the section with little increase in weight. In this paper we examine the structure of the leaf of the bearded iris and show that its flexural stiffness can be explained in terms of the mechanics of sandwich beams.     

Co-cure bonding method for foam core composite sandwich manufacturing

The conventional manufacturing of composite sandwich structures is completed by adhesive joining separately prepared composite faces to cores. The joining process during sandwich fabrication is most difficult process, which requires strict quality control. The joining process can be eliminated when the sandwich structures are manufactured by co-cure method inside a mold using the large coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of foam cores.

In this work, the foam core composite sandwich beams were manufactured inside a mold using the pressure generated due to the difference of CTEs between the mold and the foam. Considering the non-linear thermal expansion properties of foam during co-cure manufacturing, the pressure generated inside the mold was analyzed and calculated. In addition, the calculated pre-compression strain was given to the foam core sandwich beams for enough consolidation of the composite faces.     

Non-linear indentation behavior of foam core sandwich composite materials—A 2D approach

Light weight high performance sandwich composite materials have been used more and more frequently in various load bearing applications in recent decades. However, sandwich materials with thin composite face sheets and a low density foam core are notoriously sensitive to failure by localized external loads. These loads induce significant local deflections of the loaded face sheet into the core of the sandwich composite material, thus causing high stress concentrations. As a result, a complex multiaxial stressed and strained state can be obtained in the area of localized load application. Another important consequence of the highly localized external loads is the formation of a residual dent in the face sheet (a geometrical imperfection) that can reduce significantly the post-indentation load bearing capacity of the sandwich structure.This paper addresses the elastic–plastic response of sandwich composite beams with a foam core to local static loading. The study deals with a 2D configuration, where a sandwich beam is indented by a steel cylinder across the whole width of the specimen. The ABAQUS finite element package is used to model the indentation response of the beams. Both physical and geometrical non-linearities are taken into account. The plastic response of the foam core is modeled by the ¹CRUSHABLE FOAM and the ¹CRUSHABLE FOAM HARDENING option of the ABAQUS code. The purpose of the numerical modeling is to develop correct 2D simulations of the non-linear response in order to further understand the failure modes caused by static indentation. In order to verify the finite element model, indentation tests are performed on sandwich composite beams using a cylindrical indentor. The numerical results show good agreement with experimental test data.     

A Study on Flexural Properties of Sandwich Structures with Fiber/Metal Laminate Face Sheets

In this work, a new family of sandwich structures with fiber metal laminate (FML) faces is investigated. FMLs have benefits over both metal and fiber reinforced composites. To investigate the bending properties of sandwich beams with FML faces and compare with similar sandwich beams with fibrous composite faces, 6 groups of specimen with different layer arrangements were made and tested. Results show that FML faces have good resistance against transverse local loads and minimize stress concentration and local deformations of skin and core under the loading tip. In addition, FML faces have a good integrity even after plateau region of foam cores and prevent from catastrophic failures, which cannot be seen in fibrous composite faces. Also, FML faces are lighter than metal faces and have better connection with foam cores. Sandwich beams with FML faces have a larger elastic region because of simultaneous deformation of top and bottom faces and larger failure strain thanks to good durability of FMLs. A geometrical nonlinear classical theory is used to predict force-deflection behavior. In this model an explicit formula between symmetrical sandwich beams deflections and applied force which can be useful for designers, is derived. Good agreement is obtained between the analytical predictions and experimental results. Also, analytical results are compared with small deformation solution in a parametric study, and the effects of geometric parameters on difference between linear and nonlinear results are discussed.