Publication

Abstract : Sandwich panels (SPs) are promising materials for aerospace, transportation, naval, and civil construction applications because of their excellent acoustic dampening qualities, high specific strength, and stiffness. As far as sandwich panel failure is concerned, face and core debonding in the SPs are the worst of the lot. Hybrid composites with glass-fibre face sheets and aluminium honeycomb sandwich structures were studied in this work for their interfacial bonding and compressive strength. SPs’s in-plane compression properties were also studied in relation to the strain rates. Further investigation was conducted about the possibility and the effect of integrating nano-clay into glass-fibre face sheets (FSs) and aluminium honeycomb cores. As a result, the honeycomb core fillet, resin and nano-clay at the interface form a composite. To improve the in- and out-plane properties, the authors added the nano-clay to the FS. The in-plane failure load of sandwich panels was greatly influenced by increasing nano-clay concentration, but the loading rate had no impact.