Structural Performance of Aluminum and Stainless Steel Pyramidal Truss Core Sandwich Panels

摘要

Future lightweight military vehicles will demand increasingly mass- efficient structures to satisfy design requirements such as increased mobility and survivability. One possible family of lightweight structures entails sandwich panels consisting of solid facesheets and a low-density core. The sandwich structures can provide both structural strength and stiffness, with load-bearing potential. In this study, sandwich panels consisting of metallic facesheets and a pyramidal truss core manufactured from either 6061-T6 aluminum or 316L stainless steel are investigated. The structures were subjected to panel bending and in-plane compression testing to explore the effects of relative core density and process parameters. The mechanical response and failure mechanisms were categorized for the different structures and materials. The processing challenges associated with fabricating larger panels are also discussed.