Mechanical behaviours of composite sandwich panel with strengthened pyramidal truss cores

An improved design of interlacing laminate layer is presented to fabricate composite sandwich panel with lattice truss cores (CSPLTCs) with a hot-press molding method. The new laminate form greatly enhances the integrity of the cores, leading to increase in mechanical performance, especially for in-plane shear. However, the delamination of the cross-bars becomes the dominated failure in shear tests. The strengthened cores give full play the potential of cross-bars to postpone the progress of the local failure. Results indicate that the present structure provides more superior comprehensive mechanical properties and better energy absorption capacity. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.