Response of aluminium foam-cored sandwich panels to bending load

The response of aluminium sandwich panels comprising thin foam cores and thin face sheets of low and high yield strength was investigated under three-point bending load. The effect of skin strength, bending span and core thickness on the failure modes and loads was investigated. While the lower strength face sheet is associated with lower failure loads, that decrease is not proportional to the yield strength due to the additional failure mode of face yielding. Theoretical models enabled prediction of the failure loads and elucidated the contribution of each failure mode. Failure maps were subsequently constructed which can be used for the design of foam-cored sandwich panels with very thin face sheets. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.