Compressive and bending behavior of foam-filled composite sandwich panel with novel M-shaped core reinforced by nano-silica

Abstract

The present paper has experimentally determined the flexural strength of a glass fiber reinforced polymer sandwich panel with a novel M-shaped lattice core reinforced by nano-silica (nano-SiO2). For this purpose, a polymer composite sandwich panel with an M-shaped core made of glass-epoxy fiber has been fabricated in this experiment using the vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding method. Afterward, polyurethane foam (PU) was injected into the empty space of the sandwich panel. In order to determine the flexural strength of the sandwich panels, they have been subjected to three-point bending and compressive loads. From the results of the study, it was figured out that: (a) Adding 1–3 wt% of nano-silica into the glass fiber had the most desirable effects on the enhancement of flexural strength of the sandwich panels (b) PU has improved the flexural strength of sandwich panels (c) The new M-shaped core can well postpone the buckling and failure of the composite sandwich structures.