Investigation of Quasi-Static Indentation Response of Inkjet Printed Sandwich Structures under Various Indenter Geometries

The objective of this investigation was to determine the quasi-static indentation response and failure mode in three-dimensional (3D) printed trapezoidal core structures, and to characterize the energy absorbed by the structures. In this work, the trapezoidal sandwich structure was designed in the following two ways. Firstly, the trapezoidal core along with its facesheet was 3D printed as a single element comprising a single material for both core and facesheet (type A); Secondly, the trapezoidal core along with facesheet was 3D printed, but with variation in facesheet materials (type B). Quasi-static indentation was carried out using three different indenters, namely standard hemispherical, conical, and flat indenters. Acoustic emission (AE) technique was used to capture brittle cracking in the specimens during indentation. The major failure modes were found to be brittle failure and quasi-brittle fractures. The measured indentation energy was at a maximum when using a conical indenter at 9.40 J and 9.66 J and was at a minimum when using a hemispherical indenter at 6.87 J and 8.82 J for type A and type B series specimens respectively. The observed maximum indenter displacements at failure were the effect of material variations and composite configurations in the facesheet.