ABSTRACT
In the paper the use of aerogel material in sandwich panels is presented. It is assumed that the combination of polyurethane foam and aerogel in one core layer of the sandwich panel can provide benefits of both materials, i.e. appropriate shear stiffness and significant fire resistance, respectively. The idea of such a hybrid core is new and original and requires performing preliminary laboratory tests. Four-point bending tests were used in order to find the mechanical and kinematical response of the sandwich structure with the hybrid core. Various arrangements were considered i.e. varied thickness and varied stacking order of the core layers made of aerogel and polyurethane foam. Moreover, the results obtained for sandwich panels with hybrid core were compared with the results obtained for sandwich panels with a homogenous core (i.e. core made of polyurethane foam or aerogel).
