The effect of core materials on flexural behaviour of sandwich panels with basalt FRP facesheets

Abstract

The flexural behaviour of sandwich panels with basalt fiber-reinforced polymer (BFRP) facesheets was investigated. A total of 10 sandwich panels were subjected to six-point flexural tests to simulate uniformly distributed loading conditions. The variable parameters were the core thickness (30, 50, 60 and 100 mm), core category (polyurethane [PU], extruded polystyrene [XPS], rock-mineral wool [RW]), and hybrid core (PU+RW and XPS+RW). Finally, the shear distribution coefficient of core material for sandwich panels with BFRP facesheets was modified depending on the experimental data. The experimental results showed that an increase in the PU core thickness significantly increased the flexural strength and rigidity of the sandwich panels. For different core materials, the maximum loads of the panels were positive with the shear strength of the core materials. Whereas, XPS+RW hybrid core not only can significantly decreases the costs, but also exhibits the highest bearing capacity and stiffness as compared with the PU+RW hybrid and PU cores.