ABSTRACT
Sandwich composites consisting of thin fibre-polymer laminate face skins covering a thick light-weight core material are widely used in aerospace structures for their lightness and high in-plane mechanical properties. However, sandwich composites have low through-thickness mechanical properties such as poor impact damage resistance, crush-resistance, stiffness and through-thickness strength due to the weakness of the core material. Many methods have been developed to strengthen the core of sandwich composites, including 3D weaving and through-thickness stitching, however these methods cannot be used on materials with prepreg-based skins. Many aerospace sandwich composites are made using carbon-epoxy prepreg face skins, and therefore strengthening methods that can applied to these materials are needed.
