Compression and low velocity impact response of sandwich panels with polyester pin-reinforced foam filled honeycomb core

Hybridization of face, core and their combination is of great interest to develop high performance composite sandwich panels. In this regards, hybrid core of 'polyester pin-reinforced foam filled honeycomb sandwich panels' was fabricated and compared with unreinforced 'foam filled honeycomb sandwich panels' in terms of compressive and low velocity impact performances. MATLAB image processing techniques was applied to determine the impact damage area. Incorporating reinforcing pins for connecting faces and core is an effectual way to improve interfacial bonding, also imparts through thickness properties for sandwich panels. Compression tests performed on the sandwich panels revealed that the polyester pin reinforcement in foam filled honeycomb sandwich panel enhanced the load bearing capacity considerably. The low velocity impact properties such as load at initial damage, total absorbed energy were greatly improved and impact damage area reduced significantly by the addition of the pins.