Investigation of low-velocity impact behaviors of aluminum foam sandwich structures reinforced with aluminum plates

In this thesis, the low-velocity impact behavior of sandwich structures having aluminum foam core reinforced with aluminum plates was investigated. In this study, the effects of the Al-foam core density and the impact energy on the impact response of sandwich structures were investigated.Sandwich plates were produced by combining of Al-foams with three different densities of 0.37, 0.52, and 0.70 g/cm3, placed between Al-6061-T6 reinforcement plates with epoxy adhesive. Low velocity impact tests were carried out for each sample at 15, 30, 45 and 60J impact energies.The low-velocity impact tests of the prepared samples were carried out with the CEAST Fractovis impact device in the Mechanic Laboratory of the Mechanical Engineering Department of Erciyes University.The effects of the foam core density and the impact energy on the low-velocity impact behavior of the aluminum plate reinforced Al-foam core sandwich structures were examined in detail using contact force-time and energy-time graphics, and after impact permanent deformation photographs taken from the front and cross-section of the sandwich specimens.