scholarly journals The Effects of Core Machining Configurations on the Mechanical Properties of Cores and Sandwich Structures

Materials ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 521
Author(s):  
Zhiwen Qin ◽  
Lili Wei ◽  
Mingming Zhang ◽  
Rui Zhang ◽  
Xiang Ji ◽  
...  

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.

Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 601
Author(s):  
George Razvan Buican ◽  
Sebastian-Marian Zaharia ◽  
Mihai Alin Pop ◽  
Lucia-Antoneta Chicos ◽  
Camil Lancea ◽  
...  

The application of fused filament fabrication processes is rapidly expanding in many domains such as aerospace, automotive, medical, and energy, mainly due to the flexibility of manufacturing structures with complex geometries in a short time. To improve the mechanical properties of lightweight sandwich structures, the polymer matrix can be strengthened with different materials, such as carbon fibers and glass fibers. In this study, fiber-reinforced composite sandwich structures were fabricated by FFF process and their mechanical properties were characterized. In order to conduct the mechanical tests for three-point bending, tensile strength, and impact behavior, two types of skins were produced from chopped carbon-fiber-reinforced skin using a core reinforced with chopped glass fiber at three infill densities of 100%, 60%, and 20%. Using microscopic analysis, the behavior of the breaking surfaces and the most common defects on fiber-reinforced composite sandwich structures were analyzed. The results of the mechanical tests indicated a significant influence of the filling density in the case of the three-point bending and impact tests. In contrast, the filling density does not decisively influence the structural performance of tensile tests of the fiber-reinforced composite sandwich structures. Composite sandwich structures, manufactured by fused filament fabrication process, were analyzed in terms of strength-to-mass ratio. Finite element analysis of the composite sandwich structures was performed to analyze the bending and tensile behavior.


2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 503-518
Author(s):  
Juan Han ◽  
Lu Zhu ◽  
Hai Fang ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
Peng Wu

Abstract This article proposed an innovative composite sandwich structure reinforced with trapezoidal latticed webs with angles of 45°, 60° and 75°. Four specimens were conducted according to quasi-static compression methods to investigate the compressive behavior of the novel composite structures. The experimental results indicated that the specimen with 45° trapezoidal latticed webs showed the most excellent energy absorption ability, which was about 2.5 times of the structures with vertical latticed webs. Compared to the traditional composite sandwich structure, the elastic displacement and ultimate load-bearing capacity of the specimen with 45° trapezoidal latticed webs were increased by 624.1 and 439.8%, respectively. Numerical analysis of the composite sandwich structures was carried out by using a nonlinear explicit finite element (FE) software ANSYS/LS-DYNA. The influence of the thickness of face sheets, lattice webs and foam density on the elastic ultimate load-bearing capacity, the elastic displacement and initial stiffness was analyzed. This innovative composite bumper device for bridge pier protection against ship collision was simulated to verify its performance. The results showed that the peak impact force of the composite anti-collision device with 45° trapezoidal latticed webs would be reduced by 17.3%, and the time duration will be prolonged by about 31.1%.


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