Structural analysis and testing of sandwich composite beams having glass fiber reinforced polyurethane faces

This study is related with the determination of the mechanical properties of composite sandwich beams having glass fiber reinforced polyurethane outer faces and an MDF core. First, mechanical properties of the MDF core are determined. Then, cantilever beam vibration and 3 point bending tests are conducted on the produced specimens and the bending rigidities obtained are presented in comparison with the results obtained using a simple analytical model, and 3 point bending tests. The results obtained show that the 3 point bending test yields more reliable results than the cantilever beam vibration test due to the difficulty in clamping one of the beam ends.