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Applied Composite Materials: An International Journal for the Science and Application of Composite Materials (v.12, #3-4)
Localized Effects across Core Junctions in Sandwich Beams Subjected to In-Plane and Out-of-Plane Loading by Elena Bozhevolnaya; Anders Lyckegaard; Ole Thybo Thomsen (pp. 135-147).
The paper concerns local effects that occur across junctions between different cores in sandwich beams subjected to in-plane and out-of-plane loads. These local effects display themselves by a significant rise of the bending normal stresses in the faces of the sandwich near the core junctions. At the same time, an elevation of the transverse normal and shear stresses in the adjacent core parts is observed. The nature and intensity of the local effects is studied for sandwich beams loaded statically by axial (in-plane) and transverse (out-of-plane) forces. Two types of core junctions, namely a conventional butt junction and a reinforced butt junction, are investigated experimentally. The experimental data coincides perfectly with the numerical simulations performed using Finite Element Analysis.
Keywords: core junction; sandwich; local effects; stress concentrations
Compression-after-Impact Strength of Sandwich Panels with Core Crushing Damage by Andrey Shipsha; Dan Zenkert (pp. 149-164).
Compression-after-impact (CAI) strength of foam-cored sandwich panels with composite face sheets is investigated experimentally. The low-velocity impact by a semi-spherical (blunt) projectile is considered, producing a damage mainly in a form of core crushing accompanied by a permanent indentation (residual dent) in the face sheet. Instrumentation of the panels by strain gauges and digital speckle photography analysis are used to study the effect of damage on failure mechanisms in the panel. Residual dent growth inwards toward the mid-plane of a sandwich panel followed by a complete separation of the face sheet is identified as the failure mode. CAI strength of sandwich panels is shown to decrease with increasing impact damage size. Destructive sectioning of sandwich panels is used to characterise damage parameters and morphology for implementation in a finite element model. The finite element model that accounts for relevant details of impact damage morphology is developed and proposed for failure analysis and CAI strength predictions of damaged panels demonstrating a good correlation with experimental results.
Keywords: impact; impact damage; sandwich panels; foam core; residual dent; crushe core; dent growth; residual strength
The Effect of Load and Geometry on the Failure Modes of Sandwich Beams by M. S. Konsta-Gdoutos; E. E. Gdoutos (pp. 165-176).
Facing compressive failure, facing wrinkling and core shear failure are the most commonly encountered failure modes in sandwich beams with facings made of composite materials. The occurrence and sequence of these failure modes depends on the geometrical dimensions, the form of loading and type of support of the beam. In this paper the above three failure modes in sandwich beams with facings made of carbon/epoxy composites and cores made of aluminum honeycomb and two types of foam have been investigated. Two types of beams, the simply supported and the cantilever have been considered. Loading included concentrated, uniform and triangular. It was found that in beams with foam core facing wrinkling and core shear failure occur, whereas in beams with honeycomb core facing compressive failure and core shear crimping take place. Results were obtained for the dependence of failure mode on the geometry of the beam and the type of loading. The critical beam spans for failure mode transition from core shear to wrinkling failure were established. It was found that initiation of a particular failure mode depends on the properties of the facing and core materials, the geometrical configuration, the type of support and loading of sandwich beams.
Keywords: sandwich structures; failure modes; wrinkling; shear failure; carbon/epoxy composites; foam materials; aluminum honeycomb
Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Inserts in Sandwich Structures by P. Bunyawanichakul; B. Castanie; J. -J. Barrau (pp. 177-191).
In aeronautics, sandwich structures are widely used for secondary structures like flaps or landing gear doors. In the case of landing gear doors, the junction is made by a local reinforcement called an insert. This insert is made by a resin molded in the Nomex™ sandwich core. Such structures are still designed mainly using test results and the lack of an efficient numerical model remains a problem. The purpose of this study is on the one hand to perform experiments in order to be able to identify the failure modes and on the other hand to propose an efficient numerical model. Pull-out tests with cycling were conducted and 3D displacement measured by optical methods. The potential failure modes are numerous (delamination, local fiber breaking, skin/core debonding, core crushing, core shear buckling, potting failure, etc.). Experiments demonstrated that, for the lower loads, the non-linearity and the hysteresis are mainly due to core shear buckling. From this observation, the nonlinear behavior of the core is identified by a 3 point-bending test. The shear-modulus damage law is then implemented on a non-linear finite element model and an acceptable correlation of the tests is achieved. As a consequence, some improvements of the technology will be proposed, manufactured and tested.
Keywords: insert; potting; junction; sandwich structure
High Strain Rate Response of Sandwich Composites with Nanophased Cores by Hassan Mahfuz; Mohammed F. Uddin; Vijaya K. Rangari; Mrinal C. Saha; Shaik Zainuddin; Shaik Jeelani (pp. 193-211).
Polyurethane foam materials have been used as core materials in a sandwich construction with S2-Glass/SC-15 facings. The foam material has been manufactured from liquid polymer precursors of polyurethane. The precursors are made of two components; part-A (diphenylmethane diisocyanate) and part-B (polyol). In one set of experiments, part-A was mixed with part-B to manufacture the foam. In another set, TiO2 nanoparticles have been dispersed in part-A through ultrasonic cavitation technique. The loading of nanoparticles was 3% by weight of the total polymer precursor. The TiO2 nanoparticles were spherical in shape, and were about 29 nm in diameter. Sonic cavitation was carried out with a vibrasound liquid processor at 20 kHz frequency with a power intensity of about 100 kW/m2. The two categories of foams manufactured in this manner were termed as neat and nanophased. Sandwich composites were then fabricated using these two categories of core materials using a co-injection resin transfer molding (CIRTM) technique. Test samples extracted from the panel were subjected to quasi-static as well as high strain rate loadings. Rate of loading varied from 0.002 s−1 to around 1300 s−1. It has been observed that infusion of nanoparticles had a direct correlation with the cell geometry. The cell dimensions increased by about 46% with particle infusion suggesting that nanoparticles might have worked as catalysts during the foaming process. Correspondingly, enhancement in thermal properties was also noticed especially in the TGA experiments. There was also a significant improvement in mechanical properties due to nanoparticle infusion. Average increase in sandwich strength and energy absorption with nanophased cores was between 40–60% over their neat counterparts. Details of manufacturing and analyses of thermal and mechanical tests are presented in this paper.
Keywords: high strain rate; nanoparticle; energy absorption; polyurethane foam
Experimental Analysis and Modeling of the Crushing of Honeycomb Cores by Y. Aminanda; B. Castanié; J. -J. Barrau; P. Thevenet (pp. 213-227).
In the aeronautical field, sandwich structures are widely used for secondary structures like flaps or landing gear doors. The modeling of low velocity/low energy impact, which can lead to a decrease of the structure strength by 50%, remains a designer’s main problem. Since this type of impact has the same effect as quasi-static indentation, the study focuses on the behavior of honeycomb cores under compression. The crushing phenomenon has been well identified for years but its mechanism is not described explicitly and the model proposed may not satisfy industrial purposes. To understand the crushing mechanism, honeycomb test specimens made of Nomex™, aluminum alloy and paper were tested. During the crushing, a CCD camera showed that the cell walls buckled very quickly. The peak load recorded during tests corresponded to the buckling of the common edge of three honeycomb cells. Further tests on corner structures to simulate only one vertical edge of a honeycomb cell show a similar behavior. The different specimens exhibited similar load/displacement curves and the differences observed were only due to the behavior of the different materials. As a conclusion of this phenomenological study, the hypothesis that loads are mainly taken by the vertical edge can be made. So, a honeycomb core subjected to compression can be modeled by a grid of nonlinear springs. A simple analytical model was then developed and validated by tests on Nomex™ honeycomb core indented by different sized spherical indenters. A good correlation between theory and experiment was found. This result can be used to satisfactorily model using finite elements the indentation on a sandwich structure with a metallic or composite skin and honeycomb core.
Keywords: sandwich structure; honeycomb; indentation; low energy/low velocity impact
Cellular Truss Core Sandwich Structures by David J. Sypeck (pp. 229-246).
Sandwich structures with open cell truss cores are a relatively new class of multifunctional material systems that can be made using affordable deformation, assembly and joining processes. A variety of cellular core architectures have recently been made from wrought metal alloys using inexpensive textile and perforated sheet methods. Here, the design, fabrication and properties for these types of structures is reviewed.
Keywords: sandwich structure; cellular solid; multifunctional; alloy; brazing
Enhancement of Energy Absorption in Syntactic Foams by Nanoclay Incorporation for Sandwich Core Applications by Nikhil Gupta; Rahul Maharsia (pp. 247-261).
Syntactic foams are closed pore foams fabricated by the mechanical mixing of hollow glass particles in a matrix resin. The present study deals with change in compressive properties of syntactic foams due to the incorporation of nano-sized clay (nanoclay) particles. A surface modified clay, Nanomer I.30E, has been used in the fabrication of specimens. Six different types of syntactic foams are fabricated and tested for compressive properties. Three types of hollow particles (microballoons) of glass having different densities are used for fabrication. Each type of microballoon is combined with 0.02 and 0.05 volume fraction of nanoclay, respectively. The combined volume fraction of microballoons and nanocparticles is 0.65 in all kinds of foams. Compressive properties of these samples are compared with those of syntactic foams without nanoclay particles. It is observed that partial intercalation of nanoclay has taken place in the specimens and remaining nanoclay particles are present in small clusters. Such microstructure leads to nearly the same strength with considerable enhancement in fracture strain. Hence, the toughness of the material, measured as the area under stress–strain curve, is found to increase by 80–200% for various kinds of foams tested in the study. Fracture features of syntactic foams with and without nanoclay are compared.
Keywords: syntactic foam; nano-sized clay; microballoon; polymer matrix composite; compression testing