Effect of temperature on the compressive behavior of carbon fiber composite pyramidal truss cores sandwich panels with reinforced frames

•Pyramidal panels are fabricated by the water jet cut and interlocking method.•Good agreement is found between predictions and measurements.•Results show that the increase of temperature decreases the stiffness and strength.•The failure modes of sandwich panel under different temperatures are different.

This paper focuses on the effect of temperature on the out-of-plane compressive properties and failure mechanism of carbon fiber/epoxy composite pyramidal truss cores sandwich panels (CF/CPTSP). CF/CPTSP with novel reinforced frames are manufactured by the water jet cutting and interlocking assembly method in this paper. The theoretical analysis is presented to predict the out-of-plane compressive stiffness and strength of CF/CPTSP at different ambient temperatures. The tests of composite sandwich panels are performed throughout the temperature range from −90∘C to 180∘C. Good agreement is found between theoretical predictions and experimental measurements. Experimental results indicate that the low temperature increases the compressive stiffness and strength of CF/CPTSP. However, the high temperature causes the degradation of the compressive stiffness and strength. Meanwhile, the effects of temperature on the failure mode of composite sandwich panels are also observed.