Simulation Study of Adhesive Material for Sandwich Panel under Edgewise Compression Condition

In order to study the interfacial adhesive material simulation method of a sandwich structure with aluminum alloy panels and a low-density foam core under edgewise compression condition, two finite element models were defined using material model no. 185 (MAT 185) adhesive element and tiebreak contact, respectively, by LS-DYNA. Under the conditions of different loading rates, and element sizes, the effects of peak load, energy absorption, failure mode of adhesive layer and the influence degree of the changing condition on the calculated results were compared between the two models, and then compared with the experiment results and theoretical results. The higher the loading rate was, or the smaller the element size was, the higher the peak load was. The simulation results obtained using MAT 185 were closer to the experimental results under the edgewise compression condition.

Manufacturing Process of Large Scale Sandwich Structure with Variable Thickness of PMI Foam Core

Composite sandwich structures are extensively used in the aerospace, wind power, sports equipment, shipbuilding, automotive and train locomotive industries in order to improve structure rigidity and reduce weight. The molding process of sandwich structure using glass cloth and fibre materials as panels has been reported in many literatures. However, few researches are found relative to the molding process of large scale sandwich structure with the characteristics of thin-walled aluminum alloy panels and variable thickness of Polymethacrylimide (PMI) foam cores. This paper describes a preformed molding process that consists of thermoforming foam core blocks, assembling blocks into a whole sandwich core, CNC machining the sandwich core according to surface models of the thin-walled aluminum alloy panels, and finally, bonding and curing panels and sandwich cores.