On the performance of truss panels with Kagome cores

The performance characteristics of a truss core sandwich panel design based on the 3D Kagome has been measured and compared with earlier simulations. Panels have been fabricated by investment casting and tested in compression, shear and bending. The isotropic nature of this core design has been confirmed. The superior performance relative to truss designs based on the tetrahedron has been demonstrated and attributed to the greater resistance to plastic buckling at the equivalent core density. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Ltd.