Bending and compression of glass fabric-corrugated paper–epoxy sandwich composites

Abstract

The manufacturing procedures of sandwich composites containing corrugated paper (CP) as a core layer and covered with glass fabrics are discussed herein. The core layer of the sandwich composite was fabricated with CP-reinforced epoxy (E) resin and then stacked with glass fabric on the top and bottom surfaces to fabricate the sandwich composites. Three composites [a CP-reinforced E (CP/E) composite, glass fiber nonwoven mat (GN) sandwich composite with a CP core layer (GN/E/CP) and glass mesh fabric (GM) sandwich composite with a CP core layer (GM/E/CP)] were developed in this study. The bending and compression properties of these sandwich composites were measured on a materials test system. Experimental results revealed that the bending strength of the GN/E/CP sandwich composite was approximately 45% and 150% higher than those of the GM/E/CP and CP/E sandwich composites, respectively.