A comparative study of the impact properties of sandwich materials with different cores

Sandwich panels are made of two high strength skins bonded to either side of a light weight core and are used in applications where high stiffness combined with low structural weight is required. The purpose of this paper is to compare the mechanical response of several sandwich panels whose core materials are different. Sandwich panels with glass fibre-reinforced polymer face sheets were used, combined with five different cores; polystyrene foam, polypropylene honeycomb, two different density Balsa wood and Cork. All specimens were subjected to low velocity impact and their structural response (Force-displacement curves) were compared to quasistatic response of the panel tested using an hemispherical indenter