Three-point bending performance of sandwich panels with various types of cores

In this paper, the bending performances of sandwich panels with corrugated triangular, honeycomb, aluminum foam, pyramidal truss, double sine corrugated (DSC), and 3D re-entrant auxetic cores are assessed and compared, both experimentally and numerically. Three-point bending experiments were performed on corrugated, honeycomb, aluminum foam, and truss core sandwich panels with identical face-sheets and core height. The experimental and numerical results compared well for panels with corrugated, honeycomb and truss cores. Parametric studies were subsequently performed, using ABAQUS, and three distinct modes of deformation were identified. The specific energy absorption (SEA) of the panels was found to increase with the core relative density; the one with a honeycomb core will be shown to have the greatest SEA, for the same core relative density, compared to the rests.