Abstract
Composite sandwich structures are widely used in the fields of aviation, marine, and energy due to their high specific stiffness and design flexibility. Improving the mechanical properties of the cores is significant to the strength, modulus, and stability of composite sandwich structures. Two kinds of core machining configurations were designed by combining thin grooves, perforated holes, and thick contour cuts as well as non-machining plain cores. The cores and sandwich structures with these configurations were fabricated using a vacuum-assistant infusion process. Static tensile, compressive, shear, and peeling tests were conducted on the infused cores and sandwich structures. The results showed that the tensile, compressive, and shear moduli, and compressive strength of the infused cores can be greatly improved. The tensile strength changed negligibly due to stress concentration induced by irregular foam cell and the shear-lag phenomenon of the resin column/foam interface. The shear strength of the infused cores increased slightly. The thick contour cuts and perforated holes can greatly improve the face sheet/core peel capacity of the sandwich structures, whereas the thin grooves can moderately improve the peel capacity. Both infused cores with the designed machining configurations exhibited positive effects on the compressive, tensile, and shear moduli, and compressive strength, considering the material costs. The study provides a comprehensive and quantitative insight into the effects of core machining configurations on mechanical properties of infused cores and composite sandwich structures.
Highlights
Composite sandwich structures that include two composite face sheets outside and a thick and light core inside are widely applied in various engineering fields due to their high stiffness and low weight
Regarding the z-pinning technique, the materials with higher strength or modulus compared with core materials are selected for the pins to enhance the performance of composite sandwich structures
The results indicated that the compressive modulus of the sandwich structures increased greatly and shear modulus increased moderately under the condition of a 28% increase in weight
Summary
Composite sandwich structures that include two composite face sheets outside and a thick and light core inside are widely applied in various engineering fields due to their high stiffness and low weight. Massüger and Gtzi [17] designed sandwich structures with fiberglass/polyester composite face sheets and contour cut, groove, and perforated hole (GP), and asymmetric double cut PET cores, and examined the effect of the core machining configurations on the resin absorption and fatigue resistance. May-Pat et al [19] investigated the perforated core configuration on the through-thethickness compression, plate shear, face sheet/core fracture toughness, and resin absorption of glass/polyester face sheets and a low-density PVC foam core sandwich panel. Yalkin et al [24] experimentally investigated the influence of the core machining of the plain, perforated hole, and glass fiber stitch on the compressive, bending, shear, and impact properties of composite sandwich structures. PT)hceodriem, aenndsio(iniis) ogfrothoevegdro, poveref,opreartefodrahtoelde, haonlde, ccoonnttoouurr ccuutt,(aGnPdCt)hceoirres,praecsipnegcstiavreelsyh. oTwhendinimFeignusrioen2saonfdthTeabglreo1o.vIet,spheorufoldrabteednohtoelde, tchoant ttohuerccountt,oaunrdcuthtewiridspthacwinagssdaerteersmhoinwendibnyFtihgeurrees2inanabdsToarpbtleio1n. tIet ssth. ould be noted that the contour cut width was determined by the resin absorption test
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