Drawing behaviour of metal-composite sandwich structures

The drawing behaviour of metal-composite sandwich structures is investigated as a function of the constituent material properties and the process variables of blank preheat temperature and blank-holder force. Materials include three grades of aluminium alloy as the skin layer material and two types of reinforced polypropylene composite as the core layer material. Blank-holder force has a significant effect on the failure mode of the metal-composite system with lower forces resulting in wrinkling as the dominate mode and higher forces resulting in splitting and fracture. Increasing preheat temperature decreases the failure in the composite core however it will increase the severity of wrinkling in the outer flange and sidewall. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.