Mechanical Properties of a Metal Sandwich Panel Manufactured Using Longitudinally Laminated Forming Tools

Abstract

Sandwich panel structures are increasingly used in applications where the most important demands are the weight saving and long service life. Utilizing sandwich panels, extremely light-weight, stiff and robust structures can be manufactured. In this study, sandwich panels were produced by specially designed cost-effective forming tools. Various kind of test materials were used for corrugated cores and skin plates: conventional low-carbon steel grade EN 10130 and ferritic stainless steel grade 1.4509 with plate thicknesses of 0.6 and 0.75 mm. A common S355 structural steel was used as a reference for bending strength comparison.For measuring the stiffness, MTS tensile and fatigue testing machine was selected to determine the bending resistance of the sandwich panels. The bending force, needed for yielding and fracture, related to the bending length and intensity was compared with the results from bending of the reference plates. Results showed that the bending force of the panels is significantly higher than that of a plate having similar intensity. The best results were obtained with the stainless steel (SS) panel that had 27% higher bending force at the yield point than 5 mm thick S355 plate having 3 times larger intensity. The carbon steel panel was approximately 40% weaker than the SS-panel and both panel types lost strength when loading direction was changed from transverse to 45 degree and further to 90 degree load (longitudinal).