Low-velocity impact response of thermoplastic composite sandwich panels with the intersected corrugated core

Abstract

Thermoplastic composite corrugated sandwich panels (TPC-CSPs) with light weight and high damage tolerance are becoming one of the popular choices for impact protection structures in the marine and aerospace applications. In this work, intersected corrugated sandwich panels (ICSPs) of the same thickness as regular corrugated sandwich panels (RCSPs) were fabricated using simple but efficient slotting and interlocking methods. The impact response and damage mechanisms of ICSPs and RCSPs with different impact locations under various impact energy were obtained through a series of low-velocity impact (LVI) tests. The results show that impact on the long span causes greater structural damage to the RCSPs, while the ICSPs can maintain good integrity after unloading. In the case of 200 J impact energy, the peak force of ICSPs is 15.3 % and 21.4 % higher than that of RCSPs-SS and RCSPs-LS respectively, and has a comparable energy absorption capacity to RCSPs. The finite element (FE) model was established to analyse the response process of the structure and to explore the effect of staggered angles on the deformation and load-carrying capacity. The ICSPs are considered to have better impact resistance and could provide a new idea for the protection structure design.