INVESTIGATION ON ENERGY ABSORPTION OF ALUMINIUM FOAM-CFRP SANDWICH PANEL SUBJECTED TO IMPACT LOADING

Sandwich panels are widely used in the fabrication of high strength low-weight structure that can withstand impact and blast loading especially for aerospace and automotive structures. Currently, aluminium foam is one of the lightweight materials used as a core in sandwich panels. The combination properties of core and face-sheet material are important to produce high strength and lightweight sandwich panel. This research is aimed to develop a carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite sandwich panel with aluminium foam as a core and study the impact properties of the structure. The preparations of the sandwich panel involved closed-cell aluminum foam as a core material and CFRP composite as the face-sheets. The impact tests were conducted using an Instron Dynatup 9250HV impact tester machine according to ASTM standard D3763 under constant impact velocity of 6.7m/s. The results of the impact tests showed that CFRP composite sandwich panel has better impact properties when compared to the other systems where it has higher specific energy absorption and longer impact time.