Mechanical Properties and Fatigue Performances on Sandwich Structures with CFRP Skin and Nomex Honeycomb Core

Abstract

Composite sandwich structures with Nomex honeycomb core are commonly used in industrial applications. This paper was focused on the study of the mechanical properties of sandwich structures with CFRP (carbon fibre reinforced polymer) skin and a phenolic resin-impregnated aramid paper core, known as Nomex. The paper analyzes behaviour and determines the mechanical properties of the CFRP-Nomex specimens to different types of tests, such as: three - point bending, compression, impact. The exceptional fatigue resistance of the composite structures is responsible for their success in a variety of industrial applications. For this reason, in this paper were implemented accelerated testing techniques for CFRP-Nomex sandwich structures, resulting in a significant reduction of the test time (of 13.9 times). The main indicator that was determined using the accelerated testing methodology was the mean life that has value of 268554 cycles.