Compressive strength of aluminum honeycomb core sandwich panels with thick carbon-epoxy facesheets subjected to barely visible indentation damage

An experimental study of damage tolerance under quasi-static indentation (QSI) was performed for sandwich composite panels consisting of 16-ply carbon-epoxy facesheets bonded to an aluminum honeycomb core. To determine how indentation damage and compression strength after indentation depend on the facesheet layup, three facesheet stacking sequences were used, varying the maximum ply angle change and placement of the outermost 0° ply. Similarly, to determine the effect of core parameters on damage and strength following indentation, three cores with varying density and thickness were studied. Specimens were indented in QSI to the barely visible indentation damage threshold by spherical indenters of 25.4 or 76.2 mm diameters. Damaged specimens were tested to failure in compression to determine the post-indentation compressive strength and resulting failure mode. Compression-after-indentation (CAI) strength is compared to the undamaged strength obtained from edgewise-compression tests of specimens with the same geometry type. Three distinct failure modes were observed in the CAI experiments: compressive fiber failure, delamination buckling and global instability. Post-indentation compressive strength was independent of indenter size and there was no clear propensity for a particular failure mode dependent on a given specimen geometry. Specimens with a high core density and facesheets with a primary ply angle change of 90° were found to be the most damage resistant. Specimens with facesheets having the outer 0° plies closest to the center of the laminate were found to be the most damage tolerant.