Performance and failure of metal sandwich plates subjected to shock loading

The deflection and fracture of metal sandwich plates subjected to intense uniform impulsive pressure loads are studied for plates made of four steels representing a wide range of strength, strain hardening and ductility. Sandwich plates with both square honeycomb cores and folded plate cores are considered. The primary fracture modes of the sandwich plates are necking and subsequent tearing of the face sheets and webs and shear delamination of the core webs from the faces. Plates with square honeycomb cores have higher damage tolerance than those with folded plate cores in that they can withstand much larger loads above those at which the first signs of fracture appear. The trade-off between strength and ductility in plate performance is illustrated.