Quasi-static three-point bending of metallic sandwich panels

Sandwich panels become ideal candidates in industry applications due to their excellent energy absorption ability and light weight. The cellular core of sandwich panels may experience large plastic deformation at an almost constant stress, thus the panel has excellent energy absorption capability. The current paper examines and compares the mechanical performance of sandwich panels with three types of cores (corrugated, honeycomb and lattice truss) under quasi-static three-point bending. Finite element analysis (FEA) was performed in this study and the numerical models of each panel were developed using ABAQUS to predict the deformation mode and the bending response of panels (i.e. force-displacement curve and energy absorption) under three-point bending. Two deformation modes are predicted for all three types of sandwich panels. The honeycomb sandwich panel is expected to have the best energy absorption ability among the three types of sandwich panels with the same relative density. The outcomes of the present study will thereby provide useful information for their applications in industry.