Experimental Investigation of Energy Absorption in Foam Filled Sandwich Beams with Expanded Metal Sheet as Core under Quasi-static Bending

Abstract

In this research, influence of foam filling technique in sandwich beams with expanded metal sheet as core by using lightweight rigid polyurethane foam is investigation. Relationships between the force and displacement at the midspan of the sandwich beams are obtained from the experiments. Three types of Steel lattice cores both bare and foam-filled were subjected to quasi-static. The performance of sandwich structures with expanded metal sheets as core were studied under transverse bending. In the following, by studying the orientation of the core layers to evaluation the impact parameters, including Specific Energy Absorption (SEA) as discussed testing purposes. the energy absorbing system can be used in the aerospace industry, shipbuilding, automotive, railway industry and elevators to absorb impact energy. experimental results showed that foam filling technique can significantly increase specific absorbed energy. Results of three point bending crushing tests showed that the SEA of foam-filled sandwich beam increased by 74 %, comparing to the hollow beam. Also, appropriate orientation of core in the sandwich beam caused to increase the specific energy absorption by 66.5%. Finally, appropriate geometric parameters and the best examples of criteria considered with respect to the objectives, are introduced.