MODULE - 4

SANDWICH STRUCTURES:
Basic design concepts of sandwich construction ‐ Failure modes of
sandwich panels – Application and testing of sandwich structures.

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➢ A sandwich panel is one which is made by sandwiching a light weight core
material between two face sheets, as shown in figure.1 (a) and 1 (b).
➢ Overall, the core gives structure to the sandwich and the skins provide strength
and protect the core.
➢ Sandwich panels imitate a solid structure with the fraction of the weight.
➢ It is a composite.

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➢ The common composite sandwich structure is made up of two major
elements, the skin and the core.
➢ Sandwich panel skins are the outer layers and are constructed out of a
variety of materials.
➢ Wood, metals and plastics are commonly used.
➢ More recently, advanced composites, GFRP or CFRP are being used as

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skin material.

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➢ The core materials are often composed of wood, foam and various types of
structural honeycomb.

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❖ Applications and Advantages:
➢ Sandwich panels are remarkable products, because they can act as strong as a
solid material, but weigh significantly less.
➢ The trend for “stronger - lighter” is becoming increasingly important in the
transportation and aerospace industries and sandwich panels are filling this
need.

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➢ Lightweight and high strength sandwich construction lends itself to a variety

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of commercial, transportation and aerospace applications where
dependability, reliability, lightweight and high strength are key factors.

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➢ One of the first markets to take advantage of sandwich panels was the
aerospace industry.
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➢ Lightweight honeycomb cores are utilized in airplanes main bodies, the
floors, and bulkhead interior panels.
➢ Beyond aerospace, advanced honeycomb, balsa, and foam cores are used
significantly in the marine, wind energy, construction, and various
transportation industries.
➢ Sandwich panel cores are low in density and lightweight; but when combined
with FRP (fibre reinforced plastic) skins, they become incredibly light, stiff,
and strong structures.

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➢ With mixes of lightweight cores, composite skins and adhering methods, new

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sandwich structures are constantly being developed for various purposes.
➢ Today, an endless amount of cores are available in the market from various

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companies.
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➢ Composite skin combinations are virtually endless as well.
➢ Another advantage of a sandwich panel is that the core helps distribute and
absorb impact.
➢ In common cores such as balsa or foam, the skin is in constant contact with
the entire core; thus, during an impact, the force is distributed over a
wider area.
➢ However, this is not true for all sandwich panels. For example, honeycomb,

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although often stiffer and stronger, has much lower impact resistance as the

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skin is not in full contact with the honeycomb core.
➢ In a sandwich panel, the compression strength of the core helps prevent the

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sandwich from wrinkling, delaminating, or buckling; all common methods of

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failure.
➢ As well, the core’s shear properties help the sandwich panels’ stiffness and in
effect, prevent the skins from “sliding” when bending force is applied.
❖ Basic design concepts of sandwich construction:
➢ Structural sandwich is a layered composite formed by bonding two thin
facings to a thick core.
➢ It is a type of stressed-skin construction in which the facings resist
nearly all of the applied edgewise (in-plane) loads and flatwise

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bending moments.

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➢ The thin spaced facings provide nearly all of the bending rigidity to

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the construction.

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➢ The core spaces the facings and transmits shear between them so that

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they are effective about a common neutral axis.
➢ The core also provides most of the shear rigidity of the sandwich
construction.
➢ By proper choice of materials for facings and core, constructions with
high ratios of stiffness to weight can be achieved.
➢ A basic design concept is to place strong, thin facings far
enough apart to achieve a high ratio of stiffness to weight.
➢ The lightweight core that does this also provides the required

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resistance to shear and is strong enough to stabilize the facings to

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their desired configuration through a bonding medium.

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➢ The sandwich is analogous to an I-beam in which the flanges
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carry direct compression and tension loads, as do the sandwich
facings and the web carries shear loads, as does the sandwich
core.
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➢ In general, the functions of skin and core material are as follows:
❖ Skins:
• The skins provide the stiffness and strength in the plane of the
laminate and include the most important normal stresses
• The skins absorb contact forces and serve as a fixing element

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❖ Core

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• keeps the skins at a distance, so that they can fulfil their structural

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function well

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• dissipates most shear stresses caused by transverse forces
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• supports the skins against buckling
• takes care of acoustic and, for example, thermal insulation
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Testing of sandwich structures:

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