Sandwich structures are commonly used in automotive, aerospace, and civil infrastructure applications due to their high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios. In the present work, the performance of sandwich structures with aluminum facings and two different types of core, including balsa wood core and hybrid corrugated composite/balsa core subjected to three-point bending, is investigated, both experimentally and numerically. The face sheets are 6061-T6 aluminum alloy and the hybrid core has been made of balsa wood with average density of 125 kg m−3 and E-glass woven fabric, bonded together using epoxy resin. For data acquisition during the tests, a linear variable differential transformer has been placed under the mid-span of the specimens and a digital image correlation technique has been used for monitoring the full-field strain distributions and deflection pattern as well. Continuum damage mechanics has been employed for the finite element model analysis of the three-point bending tests. In order to predict the maximum load-bearing capacity and failure modes, a wood material behavior model for balsa and a combination of Hashin and Puck failure criterion for corrugated composite were imported into ABAQUS/Explicit via VUMAT subroutines. It was found that combining balsa core with corrugated composite results in prevention of catastrophic failure and consequently gradual decrease of load-bearing capacity. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the hybrid core increases the strength-to-mass density and stiffness-to-mass density ratios by 34.7% and 28.2%, respectively. Numerical findings have been successfully compared to experimental data, which reveals its suitability for parametric analysis of the proposed hybrid core sandwich structure.
This study developed microstructure-based finite element (FE) models to investigate the behavior of cold-sprayed aluminum–alumina (Al-Al
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) metal matrix composite (MMC) coatings subject to indentation and quasi-static compression loading. Based on microstructural features (i.e., particle weight fraction, particle size, and porosity) of the MMC coatings, 3D representative volume elements (RVEs) were generated by using Digimat software and then imported into ABAQUS/Explicit. State-of-the-art physics-based modeling approaches were incorporated into the model to account for particle cracking, interface debonding, and ductile failure of the matrix. This allowed for analysis and informing on the deformation and failure responses. The model was validated with experimental results for cold-sprayed Al-34 wt.% Al
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and Al-46 wt.% Al
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metal matrix composite coatings under quasi-static compression by comparing the stress versus strain histories and observed failure mechanisms (e.g., matrix ductile failure). The results showed that the computational framework is able to capture the response of this cold-sprayed material system under compression and indentation, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The outcomes of this work have implications for extending the model to materials design and for applications involving different types of loading in real-world application (e.g., erosion and fatigue).
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