Quasi-Static and Fatigue Properties of Thermoset Sandwiches with 3D Continuous Fibre Reinforced Polyurethane Foam Core

Abstract

Innovative materials for substituting metals are required to reduce the mass of moving components. This decreases the CO2 emissions of overall systems. A thermoset sandwich for high mechanical properties and thermal insulation is presented in this paper. It has an innovative 3D continuous reinforced core, which allows the optimisation of the substance exploitation by wide-ranging possibilities of fibre orientation. This was demonstrated with three sandwich variants. The reference had no core reinforcement and the other two were reinforced with different spacer fabrics. The process chain for the manufacturing consists of Structural Reaction Injection Moulding (SRIM) and Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Moulding (VARTM). Significant increases in absolute as well as specific characteristic values were demonstrated by the reinforcement in a compression and bending test. It was also shown that quasi-static characteristic values under fatigue loading are maintained to a greater extent with the core reinforcement. The sandwich material was applied as a floor assembly for a snow groomer. The design was tailor-made for the mechanical, thermal and acoustic requirements. This proved the transferability of the process chain for manufacturing samples to the production of large-volume components with complex geometry.

Preparation and Load-Bearing Capacity of Lattice Cell Warren Truss Slot Resin-Stiffener-Reinforced Foam Sandwich Material

“…Tao et al [ 19 , 20 ] inserted additional fiber yarns into the grooves of the foam core to form a fiber-reinforced resin composite stiffener to improve the bond strength of the core with the skin layer and Z-directional mechanical properties of the sandwich composite. Kay et al [ 21 ] improved the fatigue and mechanical properties of polyurethane foam-core sandwich composites by using a three-dimensional (3D) continuous fiber reinforcement scheme. Based on previous studies, fiber filling, stitching, Z-pin reinforcement, and stiffener insertion can improve the mechanical properties of foam-core sandwich composites.…”