Failure Modes and Influence of the Quasi-static Deformation Rate on the Mechanical Behavior of Sandwich Panels with Aluminum Foam Cores

The main purpose of this work is to study the bending behavior and deformation mechanisms of sandwich panels with AlSi7-alloy foam cores obtained by the powder metallurgy method. For this purpose, quasi-static three-point bending tests were performed on samples of AlSi7-alloy foam sandwich panels at different cross-head displacement rates: 1, 10, 20, 40 and 80 [mm/min]. Load-deflection values were registered during the bending test and further transformed into bending moment-rotation data. Obtained results show that different failure collapse modes can be obtained for samples with identical nominal dimensions, depending on the cross-head displacement rate.