An investigation on the effect of adhesive bonding strength on bending behavior of sandwich panels with Al A356/SiCp composite foam core

Aluminium and aluminium base composite foam core sandwich panels are good energy absorbers for impact protection applications, such as light-weight structural panels, packing materials and energy absorbing devices. In this study, three-point bending tests were carried out on sandwich structures with Al A356/SiCp composite foam core and Al 1100 aluminium face-sheets and also aluminium composite foam without face-sheets. For bonding of panels, three industrial adhesive with different shear strength were used. Maximum of failure force, absorbed energy, bending behavior, deformation model and adhesive bonding were investigated. Results showed that maximum failure force and absorbed energy of sandwich panels were higher than aluminium composite foam without face-sheets. In addition, for samples with higher strength of adhesive bonding, failure were accrued in foam core rather than bonding interface. Finally, because of constant value of face-sheets thickness and mid-span, bonding strength was effective parameter on deformation model and bending behavior of sandwich panels.