Abstract
A new test technique has been developed in order to characterise the skincore interfacial properties of a series of fibre reinforced sandwich structures similar to those presently being used in the marine industry. The technique involves peeling the lower surface skin away from the core in a controlled fashion. Four different glass fibre reinforced epoxy/balsa structures have been tested and the effect of incorporating various skin-core interlayers assessed. Tests were also undertaken on specimens that had been immersed in seawater for a period of forty-five days.
The results indicate that the fracture energies associated with skin-core debonding are relatively high, typically 1000 J/m2. It has also been shown that neither a pre-treatment of the balsa core nor the incorporation of a layer of CSM fibres resulted in an improvement in the fracture energy of the interfacial region. Immersion in seawater for forty-five days resulted in a significant increase in the fracture toughness of this region. A subsequent examination of the fracture surfaces showed that fibre bridging between the GFRP skin and the balsa core was more extensive in the soaked samples.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.