Aluminium Foam Sandwich Panels for

Lightweight Wing Structures

Project Overview
The main aim of the project is to work on the modelling and development (design
and manufacture) of novel sandwich structures for new lightweight aircraft wing
designs lacking ribs and stringers. The advantages of metallic foam cores relati
ve to alternative core materials include:
• Can be made isotropic
• Can be manufactured with integral skins
• Can be open cell for very low density and reduced moisture trapping
• Can be readily made in curved shapes
• Can combine low density with good bending stiffness and strength
• Rapid, automated manufacturing
• Tool drop impacts lead to visible damage and core densification
The overarching objective of the work is to develop multi-scale computational mo
dels for predicting the performance and damage of aluminium foam core sandwiches
under relevant loading scenarios (e.g. wing up/down bending, tool drop impact,
etc.), and to compare the predictions to those of other sandwich structure desig
ns, such as tied foam core (or conventional honeycomb and truss cores). Basic t
esting on aluminium foam cores (tension/compression and densification) and alumi
nium foam core sandwiches (four point bending) is to also be conducted