Characterization of compressive behavior of PVC foam infilled composite sandwich panels with different corrugated core shapes

Increasing the development in industrial technology and need for energy absorption, lightweight and cost effective composite materials such as composite sandwich panels have been in the center of attention. In this paper energy absorption properties of proposed composite sandwich panels with different corrugated core geometries under quasi static out of plane loading conditions is experimentally investigated. Three different corrugated shapes, i.e. rectangular, trapezoidal and triangular fabricated with the same thickness are used. The specimens were subjected to three different quasi-static compression loading condition i.e. concentrated, linear and planar. The effect of the number of unit cells and corrugated core geometries in determining the overall deformation and local collapse behavior of the panels also investigated. Based on the comparative results, it is found that three unit cell rectangular corrugated geometry possessed the best performance than other types of corrugated core geometries. Moreover, through visual observation the damage mechanisms under loading conditions and subsequent failure modes are inspected. Plastic buckling of cell walls and foam densification identified as the initial failure modes and by continuing the loading, fiber breakage, localized delamination as well as debonding between the skins and the core were the main damage mechanisms in these corrugated systems.