The influence of orientation of carbon fiber rods on the core shear properties of Z-pins reinforced foam core sandwich was investigated by a series of out-of-plane shear tests. The reinforcing pins were aligned along or opposite to the shear loading direction, or they were arrayed in an X-shaped configuration. Experimental results indicate that the compression pin and the tension pin have an equivalent contribution to core shear stiffness when they are arrayed opposite to each other. Pull-out of Z-pins from facesheets and foam core can absorb strain energy after debonding and hinder crack extension. Two shear failure modes were observed in the tests, and analytical formulae predicting the shear strength have been presented.
Aztex Corporation.X-corTM: High Performance, Damage Tolerant Composite Core Material. The introduction of X-cor® production.
2.
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Andrea, I.M. , Denis, D.R.C., Ivana, K.P. and Amir, R. (2006). Mechanical Properties Balance in Novel Z-pinned Sandwich Panels: Out-of-plane properties, Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing , 37(2): 295-302.
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Mouritz, A.P. (2006). Compression Properties of Z-pinned Sandwich Composites, Journal of Materials Science , 41(17): 5771-5774.
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Deshpande, V.S., Ashby, M.F. and Fleck, N.A. (2001). Foam Topology Bending versus Stretching Dominated Structures, Acta Materialia, 49(6): 1035-1040.
11.
Du, L., Jiao, G.Q. and Huang, T. (2008). The Elastic Properties of Sandwich Structure with Z-Pinned Foam Core, Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites (in press), doi:10.1177/ 07316 84407087739.
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Degussa Corporation.Main Parameters of Rohacell® foam. The introduction of Rohacell® production.
