Experimental characterization of interlaminar shear failure in sandwich structures under three-point bending

We applied an improved six-step phase-shifting method in digital photoelasticity to an adhesively bonded aluminum/epoxy/aluminum sandwich structure in order to study interlaminar shear failure behavior. Before and after three-point bending, a self-balanced thermal residual shear stress appeared on the interface because of the difference in thermal expansion coefficients between aluminum faces and epoxy core interlayer. At the beginning of loading, the shear stress in the core layer distributes continuously and forms shear bands tilting at a 45° direction. It then joins with the upper and bottom aluminum faces in order to realize the shear load transfer. As the bending load increases, the maximum interface shear stress occurs near the supports and a partially debonded region appears at the interface. The interfacial shear stress in the partially debonded region decreases rapidly until a shear failure occurs. A load–flexibility curve of the vibration-damping–type sandwich structure agrees well with the theoretical prediction of a laminated beam.