The blast response of sandwich composites with a graded core: Equivalent core layer mass vs. equivalent core layer thickness

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Date of Original Version

1-1-2011

Abstract

In the present study, the dynamic behaviors of two types of sandwich composites made of E-Glass Vinyl-Ester (EVE) face sheets and Corecell TM A-series foam were studied using a shock tube apparatus. The materials, as well as the core layer arrangements, and overall specimen dimensions were identical; the only difference arises in the core layers, where one configuration has equivalent core layer thickness, and the other configuration has equivalent core layer mass. The foam core itself was layered based on monotonically increasing the acoustic wave impedance of the core layers, with the lowest wave impedance facing the shock loading. A high-speed side-view camera system along with a high-speed back-view Digital Image Correlation (DIC) system was utilized to capture the real time deformation process as well as mechanisms of failure. Post mortem analysis was carried out to evaluate the overall blast performance of these two configurations. The results indicated that with a decrease in areal density of ∼ 1 kg/m2 (5%) from the sandwich composites with equivalent core layer thickness to the sandwich composites with equivalent core layer mass, an increase in deflection (20%), in-plain strain (8%) and velocity (8%) was observed.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series

Volume

1

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