Manufacturing and investigation of mechanical properties of sandwich composite having carbon fiber core

In this study, manufacturing and mechanical properties of sandwich composites with various cell structure having carbon fiber core have been investigated numerically and experimentally. Compression and three-point bending tests have been applied to manufactured specimens in experiments. For this purpose, 60 sandwich composite specimens with 10 different core structures were produced for use in experimental studies. In the performed experiments, the force-displacement graphs of the specimens were drawn and the maximum strength loads were determined. The effect of parameters such as cell shape, core height/density, and foam filling on the compression and bending strength of carbon fiber/epoxy core composite sandwich plates were investigated. ANSYS package program based on finite element method was used in numerical study. Numerical critical buckling loads of composite plates having linear elastic behavior with results of compression test, force-displacement behaviors and bending strengths with the results of bending test were compared according to the Tsai-Wu failure criterion. Compatible results obtained from experiments and numerical analysis have been presented in tables and graphics.