A study on the compressive characteristics of co‐cured foam‐composite sandwich structures according to the crimp angle variations

Abstract A foam‐composite sandwich column composed of two‐ply carbon/epoxy fabric prepreg as a skin and PVC foam for a core material was investigated to determine the effect of crimp angle variations of the fabric prepreg on the compressive characteristics of the sandwich column. The crimp angle of the composite skin was observed and measured in terms of the forming pressure and the foam density as correlated with the foam deformation regimes. End compression tests for the foam‐composite sandwich columns were carried out to obtain the values of the compressive modulus and strength depending on the crimp angle variations. From the tests and observation results, it was found that the crimp angle and compressive strength were highly correlated; as the crimp angle increased, the compressive strength decreased as a large‐crimp angle caused the composite skin to fail due to simple microbuckling of the longitudinal tows. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers