Projectile impact testing of glass fiber-reinforced composite and layered corrugated aluminium and aluminium foam core sandwich panels: a comparative study

Abstract

E-glass/polyester composite and layered corrugated aluminium and aluminium foam core sandwich panels were projectile impact tested between 127 m/s and 190 m/s using a hardened steel sphere projectile. The corrugated aluminium cores, constructed from aluminium fin layers and aluminium interlayers and face sheets, exhibited relatively lower-plateau stresses and higher stress oscillations in the plateau region than aluminium foam cores. The applied brazing process resulted in reductions in the plateau stresses of the corrugated aluminium cores. The sandwich panels with 2- and 3-mm-thick composite face sheets and the epoxy-bonded corrugated aluminium sheet cores were perforated, while the sandwich panels with 5-mm-thick composite face sheets were penetrated in the projectile impact tests. On the other hand, the sandwich panels with aluminium foam cores were only penetrated. A simple comparison between the ballistic limits of the sandwich panels as a function of total weight revealed significant increases in the ballistic limits of the cores with the inclusion of composite face sheets. The determined higher impact resistance of the foam core sandwich panels was attributed to the relatively higher strength of the foam cores investigated and the ability to distribute the incident impulse to a relatively large area of the backing composite plate

Experimental Testing and Full and Homogenized Numerical Models of the Low Velocity and Dynamic Deformation of the Trapezoidal Aluminium Corrugated Core Sandwich

“…The projectile impact tests were performed using a gas‐gun projectile impact test set‐up. The details of the gas‐gun projectile impact test set‐up are given in . In these tests, a hardened 30‐mm diameter spherical steel projectile was fired against a multi‐layer corrugated sandwich target, which was screwed to the target steel frame inside an impact chamber.…”

Impact loading and modelling a multilayer aluminium corrugated/fin core: The effect of the insertion of imperfect fin layers

“…The fin layers were assembled through a brazing process using a 4343 Al filler (~7 wt%). The details of fin layers processing are given elsewhere . The fin layers were constructed in 0/90° configuration with a 1‐mm‐thick 1050 H14 face sheet at both front and back faces.…”

“…The details of fin layers processing are given elsewhere. [42] The fin layers were constructed in 0/90°configuration with a 1-mm-thick 1050 H14 face sheet at both front and back faces. The samples for the quasi-static and dynamic tests were machined by an electro-discharge machine in 19.40-mm diameter and 48-mm height (Figure 3a).…”

Influence of impacts on static and low-cycle fatigue characteristics of composite specimens

“…These criteria for damage-tolerant design are developed together with analysis tools for failure modes in laminated composites [11,21], and with the exploration of different solutions for improving damage tolerance [17], and should also be coupled with the development of the maintenance plan in order to reduce in-service damage and repair costs. The behaviour is different for sandwich panels and for thick composites, and consequently it is important to evaluate the after impact strength also for these types of panels [8,9,20,24,27].…”