Structural core materials when used with high strength skins, provide the ideal combination of strength, stiffness and toughness. In principle a sandwich consists of two skins with a core material in between. The skins take up normal stresses and give the structure a hardwearing surface. The core material absorbs the shear stresses generated by loads, distributing them over a larger area.
Compared to single skin laminates, the sandwich concept offers substantial improvements in both flexural rigidity and flexural strength. By doubling the thickness of the core, the improvements are even greater yet the weight increase is negligible. Key benefits are High Strength to Weight Ratio, Good Dynamic Strength, Low Water Absorption and Excellent Insulation properties.
Use of structural core materials also reflects in production benefits like Freedom of Design, Low Tooling Cost and Less Wastage.
