Investigation of mechanical properties of sandwich panels made of paper honeycomb core and wood composite skins by experimental testing and finite element (FE) modelling methods

In this study, lightweight sandwich panels with different Kraft paper honeycomb core structures and wood composite skins were constructed. The influence of structural parameters, including core shape, cell size, core density, core and web thickness, and material properties of the core and skin layers on the mechanical behavior of these lightweight sandwich panels were studied by experimental testing and finite element modeling methods. The panels were subjected to compression and shear loadings. Test and simulation results indicated that core density and core shape mainly affected the panel stiffness under out-of-plane loading conditions (e.g. E (z) , G (xz) and G (yz) ). Material properties of the skin layer affected the panel stiffness both under in-plane and out-of-plane loadings if the skin layer was orthotropic.