Parametric study on the crushing performance of a polyurethane foam-filled CFRP/Al composite sandwich structure

Composite structures have drawn growing attention for their outstanding characteristics benefiting from the combination of multi materials. This paper aims to investigate the crushing performance of a hybrid system involving an outer thin-walled tube made of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP), a medial polyurethane (PU) foam and an inner thin-walled tube made of aluminium alloy (Al). The elastoplastic model of Al, the continuous damage model of CFRP and the compressible foam model of PU were established with assistance of universal material tests. The finite element model of the composite structure, namely CFRP-PU-Al, was validated by the experimental study. Based upon the reliable numerical modelling, the parametric study was carried out for exploring the effects of the wall thickness, diameter and ply orientation of the outer CFRP tube, namely CFRP-O, on the crushing behaviours of the composite structure. It was found that increasing the diameter or wall thickness of CFRP-O was helpful to increase the mean crushing force and energy absorption of CFRP-PU-Al, however, the overall specific energy absorption of the composite sandwich structure was limited by the characteristics of constitutive materials. Compared with the diameter, the wall thickness had a higher impact on the energy absorption characteristics, and increasing the diameter may decrease the specific energy absorption due to the increase of the overall structural mass. In terms of the ply orientation, the composite structure with stacking sequence of [0 degrees/45 degrees](3) possessed higher mean crushing force and energy absorption than the structure with stacking sequence of [0 degrees/90 degrees](3) under axial compression in this study.

Automated summary

This paper investigates the crushing performance of a hybrid system consisting of carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP), polyurethane (PU) foam, and aluminium alloy (Al). The study finds that increasing the diameter or wall thickness of the outer CFRP tube can enhance the energy absorption of the composite structure. Additionally, the ply orientation also affects the energy absorption characteristics.