The dynamic response of sandwich beams with open-cell metal foam cores

The deformation and failure modes of dynamically loaded sandwich beams made of aluminum skins with open-cell aluminum foam cores were investigated experimentally. The dynamic compressive stress–strain curves of core materials, open-cell aluminum foam, were obtained using Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar. And then the dynamic impact tests were conducted for sandwich beams with open-cell aluminum foam cores. The photographs showing the deflected profiles of the dynamically loaded sandwich beams are exhibited. Several impact deformation modes of sandwich beams can be observed according to contrastive photographs, i.e. large inelastic deformation, face wrinkle and core shear with interfacial failure. A comparison of the measurements is made with analytical predictions, which indicates that the experimentally measured deflections agree well with predictions employing both the inscribing and circumscribing yield loci. For comparison, the quasi-static punching deformation and failure modes of sandwich beams is presented.