Investigating the effect of honeycomb grid cell size on structural performance of stiffened syntactic foam core sandwich composite
Amith Kumar S. J., Ajith Kumar S. J.
Quarterly No. 4, 2023 pages 202-208
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62753/ctp.2023.04.4.4
keywords: honeycomb grid, syntactic foam, composite, sandwich, structure
abstract Syntactic foam core composite sandwich structures are potential structural panels because of their high specific properties. The chief ingredient of a syntactic foam is dry fly ash cenospheres, which play a vital role in the mechanical properties of syntactic foam in relation to its volume fraction. In the present investigation, the concept of confining foam in the cells of a honeycomb grid structure was adopted to improve the mechanical properties of composite sandwich structural panels. Experimental investigations were carried out to evaluate the thermal stability and mechanical properties of a honeycomb grid stiffened syntactic foam core composite sandwich as per ASTM standards. The results of the investigations reveal that the syntactic foam confined in the hexagonal cells of the honeycomb grid structure considerably improves the mechanical properties by 20% to180% than compared with syntactic foam core sandwich composites without a honeycomb grid structure. The cell walls of the honeycomb grid structure hinder the propagation of cracks under loading conditions. The damage tolerance capacity is attributed to the cell size of the honeycomb structure. Interfacial bonding of the constituent materials leads to improved mechanical properties.