Process Factors and Edgewise Compressive Properties of Scarf-repaired Honeycomb Sandwich Structures

Abstract

Bonded repairs were conducted on flat and edge-closed composite sandwich panels that had undergone different levels of initial damage, and edgewise compression behaviors of repaired panel were tested. Experimental results indicate that these repair techniques can restore the compression performance of damaged panels effectively. The repaired specimens recovered an average of over 83 % of their strength. A k-sample Anderson-Darling test was used to analyze the influence of various parameters, including curing temperature, curing pressure, and repair configurations. After a thorough comparison, it was concluded that a high-temperature, high-pressure treatment can improve the mechanical performance of repaired panels, but the improvement is closely related to the structural complexity of the repaired region. A double-side repair scheme could be used to prevent the degradation of mechanical performance caused by the additional bending moment. The conclusions drawn in the present study provide further insight into the mechanical performance of repaired sandwich panels under edgewise compressive loads. These data facilitate the improved design methodology on bonded repair of composite sandwich structures.