Experimental characterization of aluminum/polymer/aluminum sandwich structures under various loading rates and temperatures: Establishing a constitutive relationship for LDPE

Composite sandwich structures, for example Alucobond, have appeared as auspicious materials in a diversity of engineering applications due to their lightweight, high strength to weight ratio and thermal insulation properties. Analyzing their mechanical behavior in different loading rates is critical to optimizing their performance. This study inspects the mechanical response of Alucobond sandwich composite structures under dynamic and quasi-static compression loadings. Dynamic compression tests, carried out at high strain rates, and quasi-static compression tests, carried out at lower strain rates and temperatures, were used to predict the behavior of the material under different loading conditions. In addition, the mechanical properties of the low-density polyethylene (LDPE) core layer were characterized under dynamic and quasi-static loading conditions, with varying strain rates and temperatures, leading to the establishment of a constitutive relationship for the LDPE material. The comparative study of Alucobond and LDPE highlights the influence of material composition and loading conditions on the mechanical behavior of the composite sandwich structures.