Impact response of E-glass/epoxy composite bi-directional corrugated core sandwich panels

Abstract

In this paper, the impact response of bi-directional corrugated core sandwich structures was investigated. The core and skins were made of E-glass/epoxy laminated composites. Additive manufacturing technology was used to print the molds applied to fabricate the cores. The influence of different periods, i.e. T = 30, 37.5, 50 and 75 mm, of the double-cosine corrugated core on the impact response of the panels was evaluated. In addition, some other panels with regular corrugated cores were manufactured to evaluate the impact response of the bi-directional corrugated core structures. A finite element modeling was also carried out to analyze the impact behavior of the samples. The empirical measurements and the numerical predictions showed that the panels with the bi-directional corrugated core have a significant improvement in the absorbed energy under impact loading at each given period. It was also manifested that the panel consisting of the bi-directional corrugated core with T = 37.5 mm has the highest specific energy absorption.