Improvements in Compression Strength of Foam-filled lattice Sandwich PanelsManufactured by VIP Process

Sandwich panels with PVC foam cores and PMC (Polymer Matrix Composites) face sheets have been widelyused in marine industries. Using vacuum infusion process (VIP) for producing this kind of sandwich panelsrequires perforated or grooved PVC foams. The existence of holes or grooves in the foam lets the resin to flowbetween the two face sheets in vacuum infusion process. In this paper both VIP and adhesive bonding methodshave been used for the construction of sandwich panels with cross grooved PVC foams. In vacuum infusionprocess, the resin flowing through the grooves results in a cross lattice of resin between the foam pieces. Inadhesive bonding method this resin lattice do not exist and the grooves remain empty. Having this in mind,the usefulness of the VIP method over adhesive bonding method in the through thickness compression loadingis experimentally investigated. Test results show that the initial stiffness is almost the same for the twomethods. But the ultimate strength and energy absorbing capacity in the samples made by VIP method is aboutby 101% and 100% higher than the ones made by conventional adhesive bonding. As a conclusion it can besaid that the lattice resin upgrade the compressive properties of the sandwich panel by two distinct mechanisms.Firstly, the resin lattice contribute in carrying compression loads directly and secondly, the resin lattice providelateral supports for the PVC foam blocks to better withstand compressive forces due to stress triaxiality

Improvements in Compression Strength of Foam-filled lattice Sandwich PanelsManufactured by VIP Process Keywords:

Sandwich panel , Vacuum Infusion Process (VIP) , Grooved PVC foam , compression strength , energy absorbing capacity