THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SANDWICH STRUCTURES BASED ON A METAL CERAMIC CORE AND FIBER METAL LAMINATE SKIN MATERIAL

摘要

The present research program has studied the fracture properties of closed pore metal-ceramic foams for their potential applications as core systems in sandwich structures. The composite foams were created at Fireline, Inc. (Youngstown, OH) using their TCON process. The microstructure and mechanical properties of two different composite foams were investigated. It has been observed that the TCON foam with a higher metallic phase by volume had better fracture properties. The investigated foam systems were also bonded between two skin materials constituted by alternating layers of thermoplastic composite and aluminum, in order to manufacture a hybrid sandwich structure. It was found that the low velocity impact properties of the sandwich structures were superior to those displayed by their constituent materials.