Sandwich structures

In some applications such as roofs and walls, it is important to supply low thermal conductivity and high bending stiffness to structures. Generally, foam materials are preferred, which have low thermal conductivity. However, bending stiffness and compression properties of foam materials are low. In this study, composite tubes were inserted to the foam core material to improve the compression and bending properties of the sandwich structure. Vacuum infusion method was used to manufacture the sandwich structure. The bending and compression performance of the structures with and without composite tubes were compared. To measure the bending stiffness and compression properties of the structure, three-point bending and compression tests were conducted according to ASTM standards. The manufacturing procedure can be easily automated and applied to large and complex shape panels.