Experimental Study on the Mechanical Properties of Polymer Matrix Composite Sandwich Structures

In this project the effect of core thickness and facesheet thickness on flexural strength and elastic modulus is investigated for Polyurethane core glass/epoxy sandwiched structures. The face sheets of glass/ epoxy were prepared using hand layup and vacuum bag moulding technique. In order to interpret the effect of variable ANOVA is used. From the results of ANOVA it is found that, the face sheet thickness is most significant variable for flexural strength and for elastic modulus core thickness. The images of the fractured specimens showed, crack propagation starts from the interface between the core material and facesheet and moves towards the center of the core to the lower face of the facesheet.