Performance of flax-FRP sandwich panels exposed to different ambient temperatures

Structural insulated panels (SIP), composed of an insulating foam core cladded with structural flax fibre-reinforced polymer (FFRP) skin, performs adequately in ambient conditions; however, natural fibres are susceptible to the environment. This study tests SIPs in different environmental conditions. Overall, the secondary tensile modulus of FFRP increased as temperature decreased, which translated to the SIP. For example, when the temperature decreased from 20 degrees C to -20 degrees C, the SIP's capacity increased by 28% and stiffness increased in the latter load-deflection response. Although this offers a larger margin of safety, there was no difference in performance across temperatures within normal service loads. Crown Copyright (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.