SANDWICH PANELS

MPD15I010
MPD15I011
 What is Sandwich panel
A sandwich panel is any structure made of
?
three layers: a low-density core, and a thin
skin-layer bonded to each side.

Thin skin

Low-density
core
 Why Sandwich panels
?
• Substantially decrease weight while
maintaining mechanical
A sandwichperformance.
panel is any structure made of three layers:
• This weight reduction results
a low-density core, and a thin skin-layer bonded to each
side.
• increased range,
• higher payloads and d
• decreased fuel consumption.
• decreased impact on the environment.
• separating two materials with a
lightweight material in between increases
the structure’s stiffness and strength
 Benefits of Sandwich panels

• Thermal resistance
Sandwich panels have λ-values from 0.024 W/(m·K) for polyurethane to 0.05 W/(m·K) for mineral
wool. Therefore, they can achieve different λ-values depending on the core and the thickness of
the panel.
• Acoustic insulation
The assessed sound reduction measurement lies at approx. 25 dB for PU elements and at approx.
30 dB for MW elements.
• Mechanical properties
The density of sandwich panels range from 10 kg/m2 up to 35 kg/m2, depending on the foam
and metal thickness, decreasing time and effort in: transportation, handling and installation.
These material has good impact resistance, bending and fatigue property
• Fire behavior
Sandwich panels have different fire behaviors, resistance and reaction, depending on: the
foam, the metal thickness, the coating.
• Impermeability
The assembly system of sandwich panels helps create air and water-tight buildings.
• Fire, Smoke & Toxicity (FST) :
FST regulations are tough in applications involving public transportation like buses, trains and
aircraft. In order to “harvest” the benefits of sandwich composites, some structural core
materials have specific raw materials making them self-extinguishable as well as nontoxic
when burning, qualifying them for use in public transportation

• Very low water absorption:

For applications used in marine environments or in places with moisture or condensation,
polymer core materials are excellent. The reason for this is, once again, the closed cell
structure. This prevents water or moisture from entering the core and increasing weight or
ruining mechanical performance. This is also important for aircraft interiors, where traditional
materials like honeycombs trap water in the cell structure, adding weight during its lifetime. In
comparison, most closed cell polymer materials have extremely low water vapor
permeability or water absorption over their lifetime

• Ease of repair:
Sandwich composites are easy to repair. Cracks and slamming damage can be repaired
relatively easily without reducing the structure’s mechanical performance. Compared to
steel, for which a large part of the structure must be cut out and replaced, professionals can
repair a sandwich composite locally without reducing the performance or the design.
Materials Used

CORE SKIN LAYER

 Open cell structured foam
 Glass fiber reinforced laminate
 Closed cell structured foam
 Carbon fiber reinforced laminate
 Polystyrene, polyethylene, polyurethane
 Aluminum sheet
 Aluminum honeycomb
Schematics of a structural
sandwich panel
Types of Sandwich construction
Nomenclature

L – Strong direction ; W – Weak direction

• Two thin, stiff and strong faces are separated by a thick, light and
weaker core.
• The faces are Adhesively bonded to the core and the load is
transferred to the component
• Sandwich structures behaves like I-beam, because as much as possible
materials are placed in the flanges situated farthest from the neutral axis
which resembles the face sheet of the sandwich panel and only enough
material is left in connecting which resembles the core material that resist
shear and buckling

• Load distribution:
 Both in-plane and bending are carried by face
 Transverse and shear loads are carried by core

• In most foam-core and honeycomb-core sandwiches one can assume

that all of the in-plane and bending loads are carried by the faces only

• web-core and truss-core construction, a portion of the in-plane and

bending loads are also carried by the core elements.
Sandwich Structure in Navy:
• Composite helicopter hangar on a new
destroyer project

• The forward director equipment room (missile

director)

• Sails for submarines

• Minesweepers

• Deep ocean vessels (up to 6,000 meters)

Application in Transportation

• In the Boeing 747, the fuselage cylindrical shell is primarily Nomex-honeycomb sandwich,
and the floors, side panels, overhead bins, and ceiling are also of sandwich construction.

Fuselage cylindrical shell

• The Beech Starship uses Nomex honeycomb with graphite or Kevlar faces for the entire
structure—the first all sandwich aircraft. A major portion of the space shuttle is a composite-faced
honeycomb-core sandwich.
• Europe leads the way in the use of sandwich constructions for lightweight
railcars, while in the U.S. some of the rapid transit trains use honeycomb
sandwich.

• The U.S. Navy is using honeycomb-sandwich bulkheads to reduce the ship

weight above the waterline. Sailboats, racing boats, and auto racing cars
are all employing sandwich construction.

• Sandwich construction is also used in snow skis, water skis, kayaks, canoes,
pool tables, and platform tennis paddles.
NOMEX

Nomex honeycomb is the standard for lightweight

non-metallic composite construction. Commercial
Grade honeycomb made with aramid fiber paper
(DUPONT Nomex or equivalent) coated with heat
resistant phenolic resin offers excellent resiliency, low
density, lower pricing and high strength to weight ratio.
Sandwich Effect
Consider a homogeneous beam of a material with a given Young’s modulus, E, and
a given strength. Subject a beam of this material to a bending moment. Calculate
the weight, bending stiffness and strength of the parts with a core (we can do that
without adding substantial weight). Given the above analysis, one can now
calculate the corresponding stiffnesses and strengths of sandwich beams and the
relative properties will be found.

Comparison between
homogeneous cross -sections
and sandwich cross -sections.
Comparison between steel panel and sandwich panel
A simple 3-point bend test can be used to compare these two structure on how efficiently they can
withstand structural load with light weight.

As you can see for same deflection,

the weight savings with sandwich
design is almost 90%. (This example
compares standard materials.)
Additional benefits with sandwich
panels are thermal insulation,
acoustic dampening, buoyancy and
corrosion resistance.

This graph illustrates the exponential effect

of how increased core thickness yields
increased stiffness to a relatively low
weight penalty.
Primary properties of face sheet

• High stiffness giving high flexural rigidity

• High tensile and compressive strength
• Impact resistance
• Surface finish
• Environmental resistance (chemical, UV, heat, )etc.
• Wear resistance
Typical
mechanical
properties of
some
commonly
used face
materials
Typical
mechanical and
thermal
properties of
some
commonly used
honeycomb
core materials
Typical
mechanical and
thermal
properties of
some
commonly used
core materials
General requirements to sandwich structures:
The faceplates should be thick enough to
withstand the tensile, compressive and
shear stresses induced by the design load

The core should have sufficient strength to

withstand the shear stresses induced by the
design loads. The adhesive must have
sufficient strength to carry shear stress into
the core

The overall structure should have sufficient

flexural and shear rigidity to avoid excessive
deflections under design load
The core should be thick enough and have
sufficient shear modulus to prevent overall
buckling of the sandwich under load, and to
prevent crimping

Compressive modulus of the core and facings

should be sufficient to prevent wrinkling of the
faces under design load

The core cells should be small enough to

prevent intracell dimpling of the faceplates
under design load

The core should have sufficient compressive

strength to resist crushing by design loads
acting normal to the panel facings or by
compressive stresses induced through flexure
 Damage in sandwich composites, whether foam or
Damage in Sandwich structure: honeycomb, is a complex phenomena due to the
numerous competing failure mechanisms