Characteristics of Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Face Sheet and Glass-Fiber-Reinforced Rigid Polyurethane Foam Sandwich Structures under Flexural and Compression Tests

Composite sandwich structures are extensively used in aircraft applications. Aircraft components are required to be robust and lightweight. Sandwich structures made of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer as the facing sheets and milled-glass-fiber-reinforced rigid polyurethane foam with a different glass fiber content as the core structure were prepared. The influence of glass fiber content in the foam on the sandwich structure's mechanical properties was investigated. Flexural and compression tests were performed to assess the mechanical properties of the sandwich structures. Visual inspection and an optical microscope were used to observe the morphology of the polyurethane composite foams at different contents. From the flexural test, the force, facing stress and core shear stress improved with the increase in the milled fiber loading with the maximum increase at 10 wt.% loading and then a drop. Meanwhile, the compression modulus and strength increased up to 20 wt.% loadings and then dropped subsequently. The increase in the polyurethane composite foam's compression strength shifted the bending load's failure type from facing crack failure into core shear failure. The loadings range of 8-10 wt.% showed a transitional of the bending loading failure type. The density of the foams increased with the increase in milled glass fiber loading. At 10 wt.% loading, the density increased by 20%, and it increased by 47% at 30 wt.% loading. At 30 wt% loading, the optical microscope images of the foam showed wall thinning and broken walls that were responsible for the drop in the mechanical properties of the sandwich.

Automated summary

This study investigates the influence of glass fiber content in rigid polyurethane foam on the mechanical properties of the sandwich structure made of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer facing sheets. Flexural and compression tests were conducted, and the morphology of the polyurethane composite foams at different contents was observed. The results show that the mechanical properties of the sandwich structure improve with increased milled fiber loading, but then decrease after reaching a maximum at 10 wt.% loading. The density of the foam also increases with higher glass fiber loading.