Design and fabrication of bamboo composites sandwich panels for flooring

Abstract

Nowadays composites sandwich panels are used extensively in aircraft flooring due to their high strength to weight ratio, smooth exterior, high load carrying capacity and corrosion resistance. The objective of this work is to examine the feasibility of employing alternative composites material made of natural fibres as the flooring material for aircraft. A literature survey has been carried out to understand the application of composites sandwich panel in aircraft flooring, centering on the light business jet aircraft. Particularly, among all-natural fibres, bamboo has been widely used for structural purposes due to its lightness and strength. In order to get the first-hand experience, an experimental work on Bamboo-EPS-Bamboo and glass fibres sandwich panel is carried out by using Universal Testing Machine of 50KN load capacity subjected to American test standards. The experimental part includes four different materials constructions and these materials are subjected to various types of loads like tensile load, flexural load and compressive load, from which the tensile strength, flexural strength and compressive strength are determined. The feasibilities of employing bamboo sandwich panel as aircraft flooring material is analysed by comparing its results with glass fibres sandwich panel.