Environmentally friendly bio‐inspired folded sandwich panels—Fabrication and mechanical behavior

Abstract A manufacturing method of folded and straight corrugated plate structure printed by environmentally‐friendly polylactic acid filled with environmentally‐friendly paraffin wax is proposed. Experimental investigations are conducted to characterize the out‐of‐plane compressive behaviors, including stress–strain curve, deformation processing, failure mode, strength, and energy absorption. By filling paraffin wax, the out‐of‐plane compression failure mode of sandwich materials from buckling (corresponding to empty corrugated sandwich panels) to wrinkling or crushing, which greatly improves the strength. Due to paraffin wax and its interaction with composite origami core, the energy absorption capacity is significantly enhanced. The research shows that the half‐filled folded corrugated sandwich structure not only has excellent specific energy absorption advantages, the paraffin wax has excellent heat absorption and release performance, and the unfilled part is just used as a heat flow channel to facilitate the flow of heat. This work has created a new method for rapid preparation of lightweight sandwich materials with not only high specific strength and high specific energy absorption, but also thermal channels.