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BENDING STRENGTH OF SANDWICH PANELS WITH DIFFERENT CORES

AFTER IMPACT

Wilfried Gttner
Institut fr Leichtbau, RWTH Aachen
Wllnerstrae 7, D-52062 Aachen, Germany
goettner@ilb.rwth-aachen.de

Michael Klaus
Institut fr Leichtbau, RWTH Aachen
Wllnerstrae 7, D-52062 Aachen, Germany
klaus@ilb.rwth-aachen.de

Hans-G. Reimerdes
Institut fr Leichtbau, RWTH Aachen
Wllnerstrae 7, D-52062 Aachen, Germany
hg_reim@ilb.rwth-aachen.de

Abstract: The behaviour of sandwich panels with different core structures after low velocity impact damage is investigated.
The investigation concentrates on barely visible impact damage (BVID). To assess the strength of the damaged
sandwich structures, 4-point-bending tests are performed. Furthermore finite element computations are
performed to simulate low velocity impacts and to compute damage extensions in the sandwich panels.

Keywords: sandwich panel, slotted honeycomb core, X-core, K-core, barely visible impact damage, 4-point-bending test, low
energy impact simulations

1 Introduction
Sandwich structures are being increasingly used in various aerospace applications. Damages caused by low-velocity impacts
are often of concern in the performance of sandwich designs. In case of CFRP-face sheets, even barely visible impact
damages (BVID) reduce the compression and bending strength after impact significantly. There are many efforts to develop
sandwich composites satisfying the load bearing capability after impact [1], [2],and [3]. One of these potential solutions is the
improvement of the transverse stiffness and the strength of foam-cores with embedded CFRP-pins [4].
In this paper results of low velocity impact tests on sandwich panels are presented. All investigated panels have the same
quasi-isotropic CFRP-face sheets. The objective of this work is to investigate the impact behaviour of panels having different
cores. Besides Nomex honeycomb core, slotted Nomex honeycomb core, slotted Aramid honeycomb core, and foam cores
with embedded CFRP-pins (X-core and K-core) are investigated.
The tests are performed using a drop tower with a spherical impact body of one inch diameter. Different impact energies are
achieved by the variation of the drop height, and are used to generate different damage mechanism in the panels. During the
impacts the reaction force, the displacement and the impact velocity are measured. After the impacts the damage created in
the upper face sheet and the core underneath the impact point is measured by means of ultrasonic scanning. Selected
specimens are cut out of the panels and analysed under a scanning-electron microscope.
Impacted and non impacted specimens are loaded in 4-point-bending tests in order to measure the reduction of strength due
to the impact damage.
In parallel, the impacts are simulated numerically using LS-DYNA.

2 Specimens
Five types of flat sandwich panels are investigated. All of them have got the same CFRP-face sheets. Different core types are
used, in order to investigate their influence on the impact behaviour.
2.1 Investigated Cores
Three different honeycomb cores and two advanced cores with embedded CFRP-pins are investigated. The baseline is a
classical Nomex honeycomb (HC) core with 4.8 mm cell width. The other honeycomb cores are slotted in order to enable
venting to avoid moisture absorption. Their cell width is also 4.8 mm. The slotted part of the core is fixed to the face sheet
which is exposed to impacts. Two different materials are used, Nomex (HC-S) und Aramid (HC-S-A).

Figure 1. K-core structure Figure 2. X-core structure

Two additional sandwich panels have cores made out of Rohacell foam. A three dimensional truss network made of CFRP-
pins is embedded into the foam [5]. In case of the X-core the tips of the rods penetrate the outer surfaces of the panel to
provide a superior skin to core bonding. There are 24 pins distributed over a surface area of 9 x 9 mm, while the rods have an
inclination of 60 to 70 to the face sheets. The used rods have a diameter of 0.25 mm (see Figure 1 [5]). In case of the K-core
the tips of the rods are pressed flat to the foam surface to provide flexibility in laminating the face sheets using out-of-
autoclave processing. The pins have a diameter of 0.5 mm and there are 6 of them distributed over an area of 9 x 9 mm with
the same inclination to the surfaces as the pins of the X-core (see Figure 2 [5]).
In order to be able to interprete the results of the impact tests with the different cores, their compression strength was
measured in a simple quasi-static compression test. The reinforced foam cores showed more than twice the compression
strength of the honeycomb cores.

All relevant data of the cores is collected in Table 1. In Figure 3 the different investigated cores are presented.

Table 1. Data of investigated cores


type of core HC HC-S HC-S-A X-core K-core
height (cm) 15.0 15.0 15.0 12.3 10.7
cell width (cm) 4.8 4.8 4.8 n.a. n.a
density (kg/m) 47 57 47 88 82
compr. strength (N/mm) 2.5 2.5 1.6 7.2 6.8

Figure 3. Investigated sandwich panels after impact: honeycomb (HC), honeycomb-slot (HC-S),
honeycomb-slot-aramid (HC-S-A), K-core, X-core

2.2 Face Sheets


The face sheets are made of pre-impregnated plies of UD carbone fibre (Tenax HTA 800) with an overall thickness of 1 mm.
The stacking sequence of [-45, 0, 45, 90]s gives quasi-isotropic properties. The tensile strength and the young's modulus of
the face sheets was determined by tensile tests. The tests showed a significant reduction of the properties of the X- and K-
core face sheets. This is the result of changes in the fibre-orientation in the plies caused by the interaction with the pins. The
mechanical properties measured are presented in table 2.
Table 2. Data of face sheets
type of core honeycomb X-core K-core
youngs modulus (N/mm) 52000 50000 49500
tensile strength (N/mm) 625 562 515

3 Experimental Setup and Test Execution


During the impact tests the specimens are fixed to a frame made of laminated wood to achieve smooth bearing conditions and
to avoid oscillations of higher frequencies. At the corners the investigated plates are fixed by nylon plates to prevent spring-
back. The bearing clearance is changed to simulate different impact situations. First, the specimens are supported with a
bearing clearance of 350 x 350 mm. In a second step the panels are supported with a bearing clearance of 150 x 150 mm. In
the third type of tests the whole back surface of the panels is supported by laminated wood, avoiding displacement of the rear
surface. The impacter has a ball-shaped head with a diameter of one inch and a mass of 700 g. To measure the reaction force
an acceleration sensor is integrated into the impacter head. The analogue recording of the measuring data is accomplished
with a sampling rate of 10 kHz. A laser measuring system mounted at the drop tower records the displacement versus time.
An automatic mechanism captures the drop mass after impact to prevent multiple strikes.

4 Experimental Results
To investigate the behaviour of the sandwich panels with BVID, impact tests with two different impact energies are performed.
These are 3.1 and 6.4 Joule, which correspond to drop heights of 0.5 m and 1.0 m respectively.

4.1 Impact Tests


During and after the tests the reaction force, the indention depths, and the delaminations are measured.

Reaction Forces. The test results show that the reaction force increases with decreasing the bearing clearance due to
increased stiffness of the system and reaches a maximum when the panel is supported over the total rear face. Furthermore
the results indicate for an impact energy of 3.1 Joule, that the reaction forces correlate to the compression strength of the
different cores. Impacts with this low energy lead to first delaminations in the face sheets and to small core damages. Fiber
failures appear in low quantities and have no influence on the impact behaviour. Thus the structures act nearly in an elastic
manner.
At higher energy (6.4 Joule), significant fiber cracks are observed in the face sheets. In these cases the reaction forces are
also dependent on the tensile strength of the face sheets. The reaction forces are similar for the different sandwich plates.

Indention Depths. Residual dent depths are measured after impact. For the impact energy of 3.1 Joule the tests exhibit, that
the indention depth depends, like the reaction force, mainly on the compression strength of the core. Cores with a low
compression strength provide only little support to the top layer, thus the face sheet is subjected to higher loads and a deeper
dent occurs. At higher energies the opposite behaviour is indicated, because of significant fiber cracks in the face sheets. The
panels with CFRP-pin reinforced foam core are more fragile as a result of fiber disorientation in the face sheets. The panels
with slotted cores show significant dents at these impact loads as well. The lowest indention depth is observed by the standard
honeycomb structure. The behaviour can be seen in Figure 3 which shows the panels after impacts of 13.7 Joule.

Delaminations. The damage extensions in the face sheets and the core are determined by ultrasonic C-scans, B-scans and
by images from a scanning electron microscope. First damages are already indicated at impact energies as low as 0.7 Joule
(drop height of 10 cm). First fiber cracks are observed at impact energies of 2.5 Joule. Impact energies larger than 3 Joule
lead to significant fiber cracks in the face sheet. Lower energies mainly lead to delaminations in the upper face sheet.

Figure 4. Delamination area impact energy 3.1 Joule

Alike the results of the reaction forces, the damage extension correlates with the compression strength of the different cores.
A non-optimal bonding of the face sheets (K-core) and fibre disorientation in the face sheets (X-core) additionally increase the
delamination area. Delamination areas for different bearing conditions are presented in figure 4. The tests performed did not
confirm, that embedded CFRP-pins offer a better control of delamination growth, as reported in [1].

4.2 4-Point-Bending Tests


The 4-point-bending tests are carried out according to DIN EN 6061 [6]. The panels are cut into specimens of 400 x 75 mm
and loaded using an universal testing machine. The load versus displacement is measured until collapse of the structure.
Specimens with impact damages are compared to undamaged panels.

Residual Strength. Although the sandwich panels investigated have different core heights and thus different bending
stiffness, the collapse loads in the bending tests are approximately on the same level. The investigations show that the
sandwich panels are extremely sensitive to impact damages (see Figure 5). An impact with 6.4 Joule caused a reduction of
the collapse load between 50% and 60%. Although the indention depths at an impact energy of 3.1 Joule are 80% smaller
than at 6.4 Joule, a reduction of about 40% of the collapse load is observed.

Figure 5. Residual Strength in 4-point-bending tests Figure 6. Failure mode of a slotted aramid honeycomb core
panel (4-point-bending-test)

Failure Modes. Three different failure modes are observed during the bending tests. The failure behaviour is primarily
determined by the core properties, mainly the out of plane stiffness. Although impact damages reduce bending strength
dramatically, the failure modes seem to be independent of the impact energy.
The first failure mode observed is wrinkling of the upper face sheet. The upper face sheet buckles deeply into the core. The
honeycomb panels with the lowest out of plane stiffness (HC and HC-S-A) show this failure (Figure 6).
The cores with high compression strength (X-core and K-core) are strong enough to support the face sheet without significant
out of plane deflection. Instead the upper face sheet fails over the full width of the panel as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. X-core panel failure mode (4-point-bending-test) Figure 8. Failure mode of a slotted nomex honeycomb core
panel (4-point-bending-test)

The panels with slotted Nomex honeycomb core (HC-S) having the highest compression strength of all investigated
honeycomb cores show the third failure mode. The decreased tensile strength of the core due to slotting caused tension
failure of the core close to the upper face sheet, leading to outward buckling of the upper face sheet (Figure 8).

5. Numerical Analysis Models


In addition to the impact tests numerical simulations were performed using LS-DYNA. The first objective of these simulations
is to achieve agreement between FE-calculations and tests. Later, numerical simulations will be used to compare the
behaviour of the different core concepts and to investigate the residual strength of impacted structures.
For most computations one quarter of the structure was idealised, assuming symmetrical impact conditions. For some
computations, a full model was used, allowing to investigate non-symmetrical impact conditions (see Figures 9 and 10).

Figure 9. Finite element model of a honeycomb core


sandwich panel Figure 10 Finite element model of the K-core sandwich panel

5.1 Honeycomb Panels


Both the face sheets and the honeycomb cell walls are idealised by type 2 (Belytschko-Tsay) shell elements. Due to the fact
that the meshes of the face sheets ant the honeycomb are incompatible they are connected by a contact algorithm (contact
tied shell edge to surface). Material type 54 (enhanced composite damage model) is used for the face sheets in order to
consider damages inside the individual plies. The idealised damping properties of the face sheets were derived from vibration
tests. For the honeycomb core, material type 24 (piecewise linear isotropic plasticity) was selected. This material model allows
for plastic deformation and includes strain rate effects.

5.2 X-core and K-core Panels


For the face sheets of the X- and K-core the type 2 shell elements and the material type 54 is used as well. The foam core is
idealised by volume elements and material type 57 (low density urethane foam). The foam is connected to the face sheets by
use of compatible meshes. The CFRP-pins inside the foam are modelled using spotweld beam elements (element type 9) and
material type 100 (spot weld). The connection to the face sheets is realised by the contact spotweld with torsion algorithm. A
joint between the pins and the foam could not be established. This connection was simulated by damping forces directly
applied to the beam nodes.

6 Numerical Results
For each sandwich configuration two computations were performed simulating drop heights of 0.5 m and 1.0 m. The initial
impacter velocities were taken as measured during the impact tests. The computed reaction forces, displacements, and
delamination areas were compared to the measurements.

Reaction Forces. The force-time history plots of the simulations show good agreement with the measurements during the
impact experiments.

Figure 11. Measured and simulated force-time Figure 12. Simulated force-time characteristics for sandwich
characteristics for sandwich with honeycomb core with honeycomb core
The impact simulations with the honeycomb core panels (Figures 11 and 12) show first discontinuities for reaction forces
between 310 N and 400 N. These discontinuities are caused by stability failures inside the core. Furthermore delaminations
inside the upper face sheet begin to spread out. Measured force-time plots show similar disturbances.
For impact energies higher than 1.5 Joule force drops occur between 1.2 kN and 1.6 kN. These failures are associated with
fiber breakage inside the face sheet for simulations as well as for the experiments (electron microscope scans).
The differences between the reaction force-time plots determined numerically and experimentally vary within 12.5%, which is
within the range of dispersion measured for strength properties of the face sheet specimens.
Calculated force-time characteristics for reinforced foam core panels strongly depend on the exact position of the impact to the
CFRP-pins, especially for low impact energies. Similar deviations between simulation and experiment as in case of
honeycomb core panels are achieved if the right impact position is simulated.

Displacement-Time Characteristics. The displacement-time characteristics describe the movement of the impacter head
during the impact. During the intrusion phase the calculations show good correlation to the experiments as shown in figures 13
and 14. After the reaction forces reach their maximum level at 1 ms to 1.5 ms numerical and experimental results show
increasing differences for the sandwich panels with honeycomb cores. The analysis of the energy balance during the impact
indicate a higher dissipation of energy inside the simulated honeycomb structure. Therefore less kinetic energy is transferred
back from the deformed core structure to the impacter in the simulation as in reality.

Figure 13. Displacement-time plots for sandwich with Figure 14. Displacement-time plots for sandwich with X-core
honeycomb core

Delamination Area. Damages inside the core and the face sheets are crucial for the residual strength of the sandwich
panels. Thus a reliable prediction is important for the evaluation of the residual strength of the impacted structures.

Figure 15. Measured and calculated delamination area impact energy 3.1 Joule, solid support

For most core designs investigated the simulations and the tests show similar results concerning delamination areas
especially for solid support as bearing condition (see Figure 15). Except for the X-core, the differences are below 15% for a
drop height of 0.5 m. The differences are even smaller at higher impact energies. In case of the X-core panels further
investigations are necessary to decrease the inaccuracies of the FE-model.
7 Conclusion
The impact behaviour of sandwich panels with CFRP-face sheets and five different cores has been investigated. Barely visible
impact damages caused by two levels of low impact energy (3.1 and 6.4 Joule) were analysed. The generated damage
dimensions have been quantified by means of ultrasonic scans and by use of a scanning electron microscope. After the
impact 4-point-bending test were performed in order to quantify residual bending strength after an impact for the different
panels.

The following findings were attained from the tests:

In case of 3.1 Joule impact energy delamination inside the upper face sheet as well as core failure are observed.
The delamination area increases with the stiffness of the core.
Already low impact energies cause large reduction of the residual bending strength (40% at 3.1 Joule).
During the 4-point-bending tests the honeycomb core panels fail by wrinkling. Cores with low compression strength fail in
compression while those with low tensile strength fail in tension.
In case of the X-core panel with perfect connection of the face sheet and core and the high compression strength of the
core, fracture of the face sheet was observed.

Furthermore the impacts are simulated numerically using LS-DYNA. After using material properties which are derived by
special tests, good agreement between test and numerical results is achieved.
In future the numerical investigations will be extended to compare different core types more accurate by keeping the core
height and the core density constant. In addition, the 4-point-bending tests of damaged panels shall be simulated numerically.

References
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laminates. Journal of Advanced Materials, pages 36-43, 1994.
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plates. AIAA Paper 96-1519 (A96-26976), 37th AIAA/ASCE/ASME/AHS SDM Conference, pages 1765-1773, 1996.
[3] Herup, E. J. Low Velocity Impact on Composite Sandwich Plates. PhD thesis, Air Force Institute of Technology, Dayton,
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[4] Vaidya, U. K. Low velocity impact response of laminated sandwich composites with hollow and foam-filled z-pin reinforced
core. Journal of Composite Technology, 21(2):84-97, April 1999.
[5] Aztex Inc. http://www.zfiber.com/x-cor.php, last visited: January 2006.
[6] Normenstelle Luftfahrt (NL) im DIN Deutsches Institut fr Normung, 50672 Kln, Kamekestrasse 8. Fibre reinforced
plastics, Test method, Determination of sandwich flexural strength 4-point-bending, ics 49.040.01 edition, April 1996.

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