Title: Compression behaviour of composite sandwich panels with corrugated core

Authors: Nagwa Elzayady; Eltahry Elghandour

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Institute of Aviation Engineering and Technology, 12658, Cairo, Egypt ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo, CA 93410, USA

Abstract: The corrugated-core of composite structures is low-density for sandwich panels and has excellent anisotropic properties. More efforts are needed to understand the behaviour of such composites under mechanical loads. A flexible design is proposed for manufacturing polymeric composite corrugated cells to be utilised for producing a wide cellular honeycomb-like core. Unit cell specimens with varying lengths and heights have been made of woven prepreg composite (fibreglass-epoxy). Manufacturing and experimental testing have been carried out to understand the behaviour of the specimens in both linear and nonlinear stages of edgewise compression tests. The results indicated a significant increase in the stiffness and crushing force values with increasing specimen length. Stiffness was found to be height dependent while the crushing force was not. The total energy increased strongly with the increase in length. Specific properties relative to the specimens' weight are emphasised in this study. Failure modes of different conditions were discussed.

Keywords: sandwich panels; corrugated core; fibreglass; composite laminated; stiffness crushing; edgewise compression; specific stiffness; ligaments; failure mode.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMSS.2021.117732

International Journal of Sustainable Materials and Structural Systems, 2021 Vol.5 No.3, pp.193 - 205

Received: 22 Oct 2019
Accepted: 10 Dec 2019
Published online: 23 Sep 2021 *

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