Modified foam cores for full thermoplastic composite sandwich structures

Abstract

Full thermoplastic composite sandwich structures with a foam core offer the possibility to be manufactured by fusion bonding in significant shorter cycle times than thermoset-based sandwiches. However, the application of foam cores results in lower mechanical properties such as compression and shear strength compared to honeycomb cores, therefore foam-based sandwiches cannot compete with sandwich structures based on Aramid/phenolic honeycomb cores, the current state of the art. In order to improve the mechanical performance of foam core-based sandwiches while maintaining their advantages, concepts to reinforce the foams were developed in this study. By introducing rods either orthogonally or diagonally to the skin plane, which are fusion bonded to the skins during processing, the compression and shear properties can be improved by up to 1000% and 72%, respectively. Even when correcting for the weight increase, an improved specific compression strength could be achieved. And therefore, the pinning looks especially promising when only applied locally in highly loaded areas for example.