Impact damage resistance of thin-core sandwich structures subjected to low-velocity impact

This paper aims at evaluating the damage resistance of thin core sandwich structures, composed of aramid paper honeycomb core and carbon/ epoxy laminates face-sheets subjected to low velocity impact. The impact tests are performed using the instrumented impact-testing machine and resulting impact damages are inspected by Ultrasonic C-scan. In order to study the failure process of the core, which is important in the damage of the structures, flatwise compression test was carried out. Four parameters have been analyzed as follows: maximum load, total energy absorbed during impact, impact dent depth, and impact damage area. Nearly all impact force histories of panels have “twin peaks”, but the second peak of the 3mm-core structure is much larger than the first, which is quite different from others, when impact energy reached 5J, which were caused by the thickness of the core. Impact damages of thin-core sandwich structures are mainly delamination in the face-sheet and core crushing at low energy, and fiber breakage at relatively high energy. The damage processes of different groups of structures are essentially different and the impact resistance of the sandwich structure is greatly influenced by the face-sheet and core thickness.