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Materials Today: Proceeddings 5 (2018) 12
2083–12090 www..materialstoday.com/proceedings

ICMMM - 2017

A Coomparative Stud
dy Of Thhe Three Point And
A Fourr Point Bending
B
Behaaviour Of
O Rigid Foam CCore Glass/Epoxy y Face S
Sheet Saandwich
C
Composites
Vignesh Iyeer Sa, Ritam
V m Chatterjeeea, Ramyaa Ma, Suresh Ea,b, Paddmanabhan
n Ka*
a
Scho
ool of Mechanicaal Engineering, VIIT University, Ve
ellore, India
b
BM
MS College of Enggineering, Basavvanagudi, Bengalu
uru, India

Abstract
Sandwichh composites arre increasingly being used in the aerospace industry because of their bennding stiffness-to-weight ratio.
Floorboarrds, composite wing, horizonttal stabilizer, ccomposite rudder, landing geaar door, speed brake, flap seg gments, aircrafft
interior annd wingspans are
a typically made
m of sandwiich composites. The investigaation aims to ccarry out a com mparative studyy
between thhe three point and
a four point bending
b of rigidd foam core glass epoxy skin sandwich comp mposites. There arises a need too
know wheether the resultss rendered by fo our point bendinng are any diffe
ferent from three point bendingg, so the sandw wich panels weree
fabricatedd using a hand lay-up process followed by vvacuum bagging . Here, Poly yurethane (PUFF) and Polyisoccyanurate (PIR))
foams of ddensity 125 kg//m3 and 25mm thickness weree used. Panels with w skin to core weight ratioos 3:1 and 4:1 were w consideredd
and a voluume fraction off 0.3 was maintaained for the faace sheet. The samples
s were teested in accordaance with the ASTM
A standardss
in three point and four point
p bending setups
s . Flexurral properties liike flexural rigiidity, bending sstrength and noormal stress aree
determineed and compared for each of th he cases. The thhree point bend setup is commo only used to stuudy flexure in a structure whilee
four pointt bend setup is preferred
p for lon
nger spans and rigid structuress. Flexural failu
ures in either caases are observeed, outlined andd
comparedd.
© 2017 Elseevier Ltd. All rightts reserved.
Selection annd/or Peer-review under
u responsibility of Internationall Conference on Materials
M Manufactu
uring and Modellinng (ICMMM - 2017).

Keywords: Rigid foam core,, glass/epoxy facee sheet, Sandwichh composites, thrree point bending, four point bendding, Flexural pro
operties.

1. Introoduction

Sandwichh structures can carry in pllane and out-oof-plane loadss keeping excellent strengthh to weight an nd stiffness too
weight chharacteristics. A basic desig
gn concept is tto space stronng, thin facings far enough aapart to achiev ve a high ratioo
of stiffneess to weight; the lightweig
ght core that ddoes this also provides the required
r resisttance to shearr and is strongg
enough to stabilize thee facings to th
heir desired coonfiguration through
t a bon
nding medium m such as an adhesive
a layer,
braze, orr weld. The saandwich is analogous to ann I-beam in which the flang ges carry direcct compressio on and tensionn
loads, as do the sandwwich facings, and the web caarries shear loads, as does th he sandwich ccore. In order that sandwichh
cores bee lightweight, they are ussually made oof low-densitty material, some s type off cellular con nstruction [1]]
(honeycoomb-like coree formed of thin sheet m material), or of
o corrugated d sheet materrial. As a co onsequence off
employinng a lightweigght core, desiggn methods acccount for coree shear deform mation becausse of the low effective
e shearr
modulus of the core [22]. The main difference
d in ddesign proceddures for sanddwich structura ral elements as compared too
design prrocedures for homogeneou us material is the inclusion of the effects of core sheaar properties on deflectionn,
buckling,, and stress foor the sandwich. As the thiin facings can n be used to carry
c loads inn a sandwich, prevention off
local faillure under edggewise direct or flat wise bbending loadss is necessary y just as preveention of locaal crippling off
stringers is necessary in the design n of sheet-strin
inger construcction. It is neccessary that ssandwich facings be atleastt
thick enoough to withstand chosen design
d stressees under desiggn loads. The core must haave sufficient shear rigidityy
and strenngth so that ovverall sandwich buckling, excessive defflection, and shear
s failure wwill not occurr under designn

*
* Corrresponding authoor. Tel.: 0416-220
052256; fax: 91-4416-2243092
(m) 98400332002, Email: paddmanabhan.k@vit.ac.in

2214-7853 © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reeserved.

Selection annd/or Peer-review bility of Internatioonal Conference on Materials Man
w under responsib nufacturing and M
Modelling (ICMM
MM - 2017).
12084 Vignesh Iyer S et al./Materiials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 12083––12090

loads. Thhe core shall have high en nough modulii of elasticity, and the sandwich shall hhave great en nough flatwisee
tensile annd compressivve strength so that wrinklingg of either faccing will not occur under deesign loads.
F. Mujikka [4] has connducted experriments on thhe difference between
b flexu
ural moduli oobtained by th hree-point andd
four-poinnt bending tessts. Hencefortth it has expeerimentally beeen seen that flexural modu duli obtained by
b three-pointt
and four--point bending tests are diffferent for thee same specim men. Onkarmu urthy et al.[5]] performed semi-empiricall
strength aand stiffness optimization
o studies
s for honneycomb sand dwich structurres under fourr point bendinng by derivingg
equationss. This was clearly done to understand thhe properties at a finite and in
nfinite spans.
Henrik ett al.[6] carriedd out the design and testingg of sandwichh structures wiith different ccore materials and observedd
that the ssolution appeaars more sensiitive with resppect to core material
m selectiion than core layer thickness. The use off
expensive core materiaals like PMI leads to suddeen increase in cost, but doess not provide significant im mprovement off
the mechhanical propertties, hence usee of such coree materials is not
n reasonablee.
Gdoutos et al. [7,8] stuudied the failu
ure modes of ccomposite san ndwich beams. It has been nnoted that the failure modess
of composite sandwicch beams dep pend on the type of loading, constitueent material pproperties and d geometricall
dimensioons. For sandw wich beams made
m of uniddirectional carrbon/epoxy faacings and PV VC closed-ceell foam coress
failure m
modes observedd and studied include core ffailure, comprressive facing wrinkling andd indentation failure.
Mostafa et al. studiedd behaviour off pu-foam/glaass-fibre comp posite sandwich panels undder flexural static load andd
observedd that the loadd–displacemen nt curve show wed an initial linear elastic behaviour w with a decrease in the slopee
prior to ffracture. The panel failed due
d to shear ffailure of the core accompaanied with skiin–core delam mination at thee
constant shear region.
Our curreent investigattion looks intoo flexural propperties of rigiid foam core glass epoxy ssandwich com mposites underr
three poinnt and four pooint loading co
onditions.

2. Theoretical Consideration
C ns
Based onn works deriveed by Froud ,G Gibson and RM MVGK Rao[2 2,3,5] the follo
owing equatioons are used to
o determine
flexural pproperties in three point and
d four point beending.
Fleexural rigidityy, D, N mm 2
Foor infinite spann length,
D = {(Ef.b.t3) / 6 + Ef (2bt) [((d+t) / 2]2 + (E
Ec.b.c3) / 12} (1))

For limited spann lengths,

Δ / P.a3) – (12 / a2N)]} ;
D = {1 / [ (96.Δ (2))
WWhere, a – beaam span , G – shear moduluus of the coree, Δ – total beeam deflectionn, N – shear stiffness
s givenn
by :
N = [ G.b (h+c)2] / 4c (3))
Beending stress, σb = [ M.h / (b
b.t.d²)] (4)

Noormal stress, σx, , N/mm2:

σx= [ M.h / (2.If) ] , where, If = b (h³-c³) /12 (5)

3. Fabrication
A typical fabbrication proccess by hand llayup followeed by vacuum bagging methhod at room temperature
t iss
used(Fig.1.). Rigid unnfilled closed pore Polyuretthane and Pollyisocyanuratee foams of 1225kg/m3 densiity and 25mm m
thicknesss are chosen as
a cores and E-glass fabricc of 280gsm and epoxy po olymer GY 2557 with A140 0 are used forr
dered to be 0. 3. Due to bettter pot life of the matrix, laayers of glass fabric are laidd
facesheett. Volume fracction is consid
above annd beneath eacch of the paneels to obtain sskin to core weight
w o 3:1 and 4:11.The panels were cured inn
ratios of
vacuum uunder one atm mospheric preessure over a pperiod of 24 hours
h ouple of days.
and leftt for age curinng the next co
Specimenns are cut for a span of abou ut 20:1 due too limitation in length of the total fabricateed panel.

Figure 1.Vacuum bagging off Sandwich panel for foam thickne

ess 25 mm
 Vignnesh Iyer S ett al./Materialss Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 12083–122090 120855

4. Experimentaation

4.1. Testing
Specimmens were machine
m cut byy maintainingg a width twwice the thickkness of the sandwich panel. Voids inn
fabricaated panels duue to exothermmic reactions of polymer matrix
m could not
n be avoidedd completely. However, thee
gaps inn specimens were
w bridged with epoxy m gures 2 and 3 show the typ
matrix using a syringe. Fig pical setup forr
tests too be conduccted on the samples.
s Thhe crosshead feed rate off about 2mm/ m/min accordinng to ASTM M
a four pointt bending were followed. Sp
standarrds[10-14] forr three point and pan for the sppecimens was maintained att
about 220.5:1 for fouur point bendiing.Hence, thhe span length
h of 600mm with
w 50mm ovverhang on eiither side wass
maintaained.

Figure 2. T
Three point bend setup
s Figure 3. Four
F point bend se
etup

Typical lload-deflectionn plots obtained are as beloow for three po

oint bending and
a four pointt bending testss.

Figuree 4.PUF-125-3:1 – Three point ben

nding Figure 5 – PIR
R-125-3:1-Four point Bending

Figgure.6..PIR-125-44:1 – Three pointt bending Figure 7. PUF-125-4:1-Fourr point Bending

g Plot
12086 Vignesh Iyer S et al./Materiials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 12083––12090

4.2 Faailure Patternss

In threee point bendinng test the grraph( clearly indicates thatt the load initially increaseed with displlacement. Thee
commonnly observed failure patterrn in three pooint bending was on comp pression side ii.e. underneatth the loadingg
point, wwith the facessheet crushed d. In case of four point beending there was no suddeen failure observed at anyy
particulaar load but unneven bending g and fracture was seen betw ween the rollerrs (Figs.8 andd9) in PIR-125
5 – 3:1.
Therre comes a pooint where it shows
s a peakk value of load. At this poiint there was a laminate crrushing on thee
compresssion side of sample. The laminate couuld no longer take load and d showed a rrapid decreasee in load withh
increasee in displacem
ment. Core shear is observedd after a point during the inccrease in defleection.
In four ppoint bendingg test it was obbserved that thhe load increaased with the displacement
d in the same way
w as in threee
point beending. This is where the laaminate takes all the load anda there comes a point whhere the load reaches
r a peakk
point. T
This is where the
t laminate iss observed to ffail.
Anotherr sample show wed a peak loadl but the lload didn’t decrease
d clearly indicating that the lam minate bendingg
stiffnesss played a bettter role in loaad bearing duue to which it didn’t fail completely. In tthe other samp ples there is a
clear inndication of load
l decrease and increasee again owin ng to the load d bearing byy the core. Th he load startss
decreasiing again wheen the sample fails. There iss an uneven beend across thee two rollers.

Figure 8..and 9.Failuree in PIR-125 - 3:1

1 samples ; Figure.10. Failure on compression side of laminate

5. Results and Discussion

D

Successsful, defect frree sandwich panels can bee obtained by hand lay-up process
p if propper attention is
i given to thee
laying process avoidding defects liike porosity, ddeformation of o edges and improper
i curiing. Remediess like constantt
stirringg of resin mixxture, consisteent rolling afteer laying of layers and unddamaged vacuuum bag has to be taken too
producce a sample goood enough to o test.
High fflexural rigiditty is one of the major facttor in sandwicch compositess for its aerosspace applicattions. For thiss
purposse, high moduulus skins aree combined w with thick an nd light core resulting in sandwich com mposites withh
maxim mum bending strength
s and sttiffness and m
minimum weig ght of core and
d facing materrial combinatiions.(Table.1)

o PUF and PIR -125kg/m3 at 3:1 & 4:1 skin to core weight ratios un
Table.1. Fllexural Rigidity of nder 3 point bendding

Flexural Rigiidity

Nmm2 Flexural
F Rigidity/
y/unit width

PU
UF 03:01
1 10288
818166 17437596.03
3

04:01
1 13308
845267 20794457.29
9

PIR
R 03:01
1 5660
091600 17437596.03
3

04:01
1 13319
928600 20811384.38
8

Variiations in flexxural propertiees are presenteed in the plotts below. In th

he 3:1 weightt ratio scenariio for bendingg
stresss, normal streess and shear stress in coree, values peak k under PIR-1 125-3 point beending on com mparison withh
the rrest (Figs.11,113,15). On thee other hand vvalues of the same
s in 4:1 sk
kin to core weeight ratio are highest underr
PIR--125-4 point bending
b (Figs.12,14,16).
 Vignesh Iyer S et al./Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 12083–12090 12087

Bending Stress Variations- 3:1 skin to core weight ratio

80
70 66.8
Bending Stress,N/mm2

60 51.44 PUF-125-3:1-3 point bend

50 44.89
36.65 PUF-125-3:1-4 point bend
40
PIR-125-3:1-3 point bend
30
PIR-125-3:1-4 point bend
20
10
0

Figure.11

Bending Stress Variations - 4:1 skin to core weight ratio

70
58.919
60
Bending Stress,N/mm2

50 PUF-125-4:1-3 point bend

40 36.93 PUF-125-4:1-4 point bend

29.89
30 PIR-125-4:1-3 point bend
18.027 PIR-125-4:1-4 point bend
20
10
0

Figure.12

Shear Stress in Core-3:1 skin to core weight ratio

0.4 0.374
0.331 0.331
Shear Stress in Core,N/mm2

0.35
0.3
PUF-125-3:1-3 point bend
0.25 0.216
PUF-125-3:1 - 4 point bend
0.2
PIR-125-3:1-3 point bend
0.15
PIR-125-3:1-4 point bend
0.1
0.05
0
Figure.13
12088 Vignesh Iyer S et al./Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 12083–12090

Normal Stress for 3:1 skin to core weight ratio

80
69.317
70
Normal Stress,N/mm2

60 55.984
50.704 PUF - 125-3:1- 3 point bend
50
36.576 PUF-125-3:1-4 point bend
40
PIR-125-3:1-3 point bend
30
PIR-125-3:1-4 point bend
20
10
0

Figure.14

Normal Stress for 4 :1 skin to core weight ratio

70
58.624
60
Normal Stress,N/mm2

50
PUF-125-4:1-3 point bend
40 36.749 PUF-125-4:1- 4 point bend
29.749
30 PIR-125-4:1-3 point bend
17.937 PIR-125-4:1-4 point bend
20

10

0
Figure.15

Shear Stress in Core - 4:1 skin to core weight ratio

Shear Stress in core,N/mm2

0.6
0.484
0.5
PUF-125- 4 :1-3 point bend
0.4
0.303 PUF-125-3:1 - 4 point bend
0.3 0.245
PIR-125-4:1 - 3 point bend
0.2 0.148
PIR -125-4:1-4 point bend
0.1
0

Figure.16

 The three point test showed that the load initially increased with displacement. After a certain displacement, the
load ceases to increase after a point at which laminate fracture occurs. The laminate could no longer take load and
shows a rapid decrease in load with increase in displacement. However, after certain point the load stops
 Vignesh Iyer S et al./Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 12083–12090 12089

decreasing. From this point the core starts taking the load which shows a little increase in the load owing to the
stiffness of the core.
 In four point bending there is a non linear increase in the initial phase. The PUF and PIR samples with 3:1 ratio
show a laminate fracture at the peak load. PIR 3:1 samples experience a core crushing and delamination after the
peak load at the final fracture point. The PUF samples with 4:1 ratio showed slight delamination at the peak point.
The PIR samples with 4:1 ratio just showed a slight interfacial laminate delamination. This only depends on the
epoxy laminate bonding. The sample that has good interfacial bonding would not show any effect. Four point
bending produces an uneven bend across the two rollers.
 The various parameters which can be evaluated from flexure test were obtained. The flexural rigidity values
nearly doubled when the weight ratios were doubled. Bending stress was found to be nearly equal to the normal
stress in all the four cases. The maximum shear stress was clearly greater in three point bending than in four point
bending in all the four cases.
 When compared between PUF and PIR, PIR sample reach greater maximum load than the PUF sample. When
compared between to the weight ratio it was deduced that as the weight ratio increases the load bearing capacity of
the composite increases. The load taken by 4:1 samples is higher than the load taken by the 3:1 samples. Also
more is the weight ratio, the greater is the bend observed.
 Hence, it can be concluded that there is no major difference between the results of four point and three point
bending. Though some parameters show a difference, those parameters would not have much effect on the
sandwich composites in bending by either method.
 Since the samples with 4:1 ratio could take more load, this weight ratio can be optimized for the application at
aerospace.

References :

[1] MF Ashby, LJ Gibson , Cellular Solids – Structure and Properties, Second Edition, Cambridge Solid State Science Series, 1997

[2] G.R.FROUD, Your Sandwich order,Sir? s.l : Composites, IPC Business Press Limited, 1980, pp. 133-138

[3] L.J. Gibson, Optimization of Stiffness in sandwich beams with Rigid Foam Cores, Materials Science and Engineering, 67 (1984) 125-
135
[4] F. Mujika,, On the difference between flexural moduli obtained by three-point and four-point bending tests, Polytechnical University
College, San Sebastia´n, Spain, pp- 21 October 2005
[5] Onkar Murthy, N. Munirudrappa, (2006), L. Srikanth, R.M.V.G.K. Rao. “Strength and Stiffness Optimization Studies on Honeycomb
Core Sandwich Panels”, Jl. Of Reinforced Plastics and Composites, vol. 25. No. 6, Page No-663.
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and Testing of Sandwich Structures with Different Core Materials, ISSN 1392–1320 MATERIALS SCIENCE (MEDŽIAGOTYRA).
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[7] E.E. Gdoutos, I.M. Daniel, Failure modes of composite sandwich Beams, Theoret. Appl. Mech., Vol.35, No.1-3, pp. 105{118,
Belgrade 2008
[8] E.E Gdoutos, I.M. Daniel, School of Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece, Failure mechanisms of composite
sandwich structure, pp-2008
[9] Mostafa, K. Shankar , E. V. Morozov, Materials and Structures, DOI 10.1617/s11527-014-0253-3,Behaviour of PU-foam/glass-fibre
composite sandwich panels under flexural static load, 7 January 2014
[10] ASTM D6272-10 , Standard Test Method For Flexural Properties Of Unreinforced and Reinforced Plastics and Electrical Insulating
Materials by Four Point Bending, West Conshohocken, PA, 19428-2959 USA
12090 Vignesh Iyer S et al./Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 12083–12090

[11] ASTM D7264/ 7264M-15 , Standard Test Method For Flexural Properties Of Polymer Matrix Composites West Conshohocken, PA,
19428-2959 USA
[12] ASTM International (2012), "Standard Practice for Determining Sandwich Beam Flexural and Shear Stiffness", Designation
D7250/D7250M - 06.
[13] ASTM International (2010), "Standard Test Method for Facing Properties of Sandwich Constructions by Long Beam Flexure",
Designation: D7249/D7249M - 06.
[14] ASTM International (2012), "Standard Test Method for Core Shear Properties of Sandwich Constructions by Beam Flexure",
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