Foam-Core Sandwich Structures with Kevlar Face Sheets

Kevlar foam-core sandwich structures have attracted considerable attention as lightweight multifunctional composites for aerospace, defense, transportation, and protective applications owing to their exceptional combination of high specific strength, impact resistance, and energy-absorption capability. However, the available literature remains dispersed across material systems, core architectures, and loading conditions, limiting a comprehensive understanding of the underlying structure–property relationships. This review critically examines recent advances in Kevlar and aramid-based foam-core sandwich structures, focusing on the influence of face-sheet architecture, cellular core design, and interfacial engineering on mechanical performance and failure behavior. The analysis reveals that Kevlar-rich face sheets enhance damage tolerance through fiber stretching, fibrillation, crack bridging, and progressive energy dissipation, while hybrid carbon/Kevlar configurations provide an effective balance between stiffness and toughness. Foam-core density, morphology, and topology are shown to govern collapse stability, shear transfer, and energy absorption, whereas advanced interfacial strategies, including nanomodification, surface functionalization, and fiber-bridging mechanisms, significantly improve delamination resistance and residual strength. A mechanistic synthesis of experimental and numerical studies is presented to establish links between constituent architecture and structural response under static, impact, and crash loading conditions.