Flexural strength of foam‐filled polymer composite sandwich panel with novel M‐shaped core reinforced bynano‐SiO2

Abstract

AbstractPresent article has experimentally determined the flexural strength of carbon fiber reinforced polymer sandwich panel reinforced by nano‐SiO2with novel M‐shaped lattice core. For this purpose, a polymer composite sandwich panel with M‐shaped core made of carbon‐epoxy fiber has been fabricated in this experiment. In order to fabricate the sandwich panels, the vacuum assisted resin transfer molding has been used to achieve a laminate without any fault. Afterward, polyurethane foam (PU) has been injected into the core of the sandwich panel. In order to determine the flexural strength of the sandwich panels, they have been subjected to three‐point bending loads. From the results of the study, it was figured out that: a) Adding 1 to 3 wt% of nano‐SiO2into the carbon 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.