Composite sandwich structures can provide improved strength and stiffness properties compared to normal composite laminates while keeping the weight of the structure low. However, when polymer based foam materials are used for the core, environmental conditions during manufacturing and operation can degrade the mechanical properties of the foam. This can affect the indentation and impact loading response of the sandwich structures.Indentation response of foam-core sandwich structures at various temperatures has been studied [1, 2], as also the moisture diffusion into the foam material [3, 4] and the effect of humidity on the interface fracture toughness [5, 6] to some extent. However the effect of humidity on the indentation response is still not well known. Therefore in this study, the effect of hygrothermal conditions is studied by observing the loading response of the polymetharcylimide (PMI) foam material at different temperature and humidity conditions and relating it to the indentation loading response of foam-core sandwich structures.
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