Core-thickness effect on the impact response of sandwich composites with poly(vinyl chloride) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) foam cores

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of core material and its thickness on impact behavior of sandwich composite plates subjected to low-velocity impact, experimentally. Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) foams were selected as the core material, having approximate density of 65 kg/m³ and 60 kg/m³, respectively, and thicknesses of 5, 10, and 15 mm. The stacking sequence of the sandwich composites is $[\pm 45 \circ / 0 \circ / 90 \circ / core / 90 \circ / 0 \circ / \mp 45 \circ] .$ Impact tests were carried out by using Ceast 9350 Fractovis Plus impact testing machine under room temperature. Various impact energies were selected ranging from 10 J to 70 J to analyze the impact energy level. The dimensions of the specimens are 100 mm × 100 mm. After the impact tests, contact-force deflection curves and also maximum contact force, maximum contact time, and maximum deflection versus impact energy curves were obtained for mentioned impact energies for sandwich composites with PVC and PET foams and $[\pm 45 \circ / 0 \circ / 90 \circ] s$ -laminated composites. As a result, it is seen that the core material and its thickness have notable effects on the impact behavior of sandwich composite plates. Sandwich composites also have higher absorbed energy, penetration, and perforation thresholds.

Keywords

Polymer–matrix composites foams impact behavior core-thickness effect

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ozdemir O. Core material effect on impact behavior of glass fiber sandwich composites. Master’s Thesis, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, 2012.

Atas

Sevim

. On the impact response of sandwich composites with cores of balsa wood and PVC foam. Compos Struct 2010; 93: 40–48.

Anderson

Madenci

. Experimental investigation of low-velocity impact characteristics of sandwich composites. Compos Struct 2000; 50: 239–247.

Dear

Lee

Brown

. Impact damage processes in composite sheet and sandwich honeycomb materials. Int J Impact Eng 2005; 32: 130–154.

Hazizan

MdA

Cantwell

. The low velocity impact response of foam-based sandwich structures. Composites Part B 2002; 33: 193–204.

Xiong

Vaziri

. Compression and impact testing of two-layer composite pyramidal-core sandwich panels. Compos Struct 2012; 94: 793–801.

Gustin

Joneson

Mahinfalah

. Low velocity impact of combination Kevlar/carbon fiber sandwich panels. Compos Struct 2005; 69: 396–406.

Herup

Palazotto

. Low-velocity impact damage initiation in graphite/epoxy/nomex honeycomb-sandwich plates. Compos Sci Technol 1997; 57: 1581–1598.

Muthyala

. Impact characterization of sandwich structures with an integrated orthogrid stiffened syntactic foam core. Compos Sci Technol 2008; 68: 2078–2084.

10.

Hosur

Abdullah

Jeelani

. Manufacturing and low-velocity impact characterization of foam filled 3-D integrated core sandwich composites with hybrid face sheets. Compos Struct 2005; 69: 167–181.

11.

Bhuiyan

Hosur

Jeelani

. Low-velocity impact response of sandwich composites with nanophased foam core and biaxial ( ± 45) braided face sheets. Composites Part B 2009; 40: 561–571.

12.

Salehi-Khojin

Mahinfalah

Bashirzadeh

. Temperature effects on Kevlar/hybrid and carbon fiber composite sandwiches under impact loading. Compos Struct 2007; 78: 197–196.

13.

Schubel

Luo

Daniel

. Low velocity impact behavior of composite sandwich panels. Composites Part A 2005; 36: 1389–1396.

14.

Park

Kang

. Impact damage resistance of sandwich structure subjected to low velocity impact. J Mater Process Technol 2008; 201: 425–430.

15.

Mohan

Yip

Idapalapati

. Impact response of aluminum foam core sandwich structures. Mater Sci Eng A-Struct 2011; 529: 94–101.

16.

Sawal

Akil

HMd

. Effect of core thicknesses on impact performance of thermoplastic honeycomb core sandwich structure under low-velocity impact loading. Compos Sci Technol 2011; 471–472: 461–465.

17.

Vaidya

Hosur

Earl

. Impact response of integrated hollow core sandwich composite panels. Composites Part A 2000; 31: 761–772.

18.

Karakuzu

Erbil

Aktas

. Impact characterization of glass/epoxy composite plates: an experimental and numerical study. Composites Part B 2010; 41: 388–395.

19.

Aslan

Karakuzu

Sayman

. Dynamic characteristics of laminated woven E-glass-epoxy composite plates subjected to low velocity heavy mass impact. J Compos Mater 2002; 36: 2421–2442.