The Low Velocity Impact Response of Foam Core Sandwich Panels with a Shape Memory Alloy Hybrid Face-Sheet

Most foam core sandwich panels are sensitive to the impact load because of the poor toughness of thin composite face-sheets and the low strength of foam core. Superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA) wires have been applied to enhance the impact damage resistance of composite laminates in recent decades. To improve the impact damage resistance of foam core sandwich panels and to protect the foam core, SMA wires were incorporated into the face-sheets of foam core sandwich panels in this work. Eight new types of SMA hybrid sandwich panels were designed, and low-velocity impact tests were carried out at an impact energy of 35 J. The damage morphology of the impacted sandwich panels was identified by visual inspection and scanning electron microscope technology. Results indicate that the impact damage resistance of the SMA hybrid sandwich panels is enhanced. The damage area in the hybrid sandwich panels is greatly reduced and a decrease of 85.63% can be reached in the bottom face-sheet. The maximum contact force has an improvement of 28.15% when the two layers of SMA wires are incorporated into the bottom face-sheet.