Impact behavior of natural material-based sandwich composites

Abstract Sandwich structures may be exposed to different impact loads depending on their areas of use. In this study, low-speed impact tests were implemented on balsa core sandwich composite materials and impact behaviors were examined. Balsa woods of 4, 6, 8, and 10 mm in thickness were used as core elements. Eight- and 12-layered glass fiber-reinforced composite materials with different orientation arrangements were used for the sandwich structures’ top and bottom surfaces. The fiber orientation angles of the glass fiber materials were determined as [0°] 2s and [0°/90°] s . The balsa core sandwich composite materials were produced using the vacuum infusion method. The prepared samples were tested at impact energy of 15, 30, 45, and 60 J. At the end of these tests, the effects of impact energy, core thickness, increase in number of outer surface layers, and change in orientation angle on contact force, displacement, and absorbed energy values were analyzed. The outer surfaces of the damaged samples and the damage patterns that occurred in the balsa wood were examined after the tests.