Out-of-Plane Compression and Impact of Woven Textile Sandwich Composites

Woven textile sandwich composite (WTSC) is a light-weight structural material. The manufacturing method of WTSC was introduced in the paper. To reveal the quasi-static and the dynamic crushing behavior of WTSC, out-of-plane compression tests were carried out. Low-velocity impact experiments were carried out to investigate the anti-crush ability of WTSC. The results of the quasi-static and dynamic compression tests show that the woven textile sandwich material has good energy absorption ability. From the difference of the peak loads, it is concluded that the woven textiles have strain rate sensitivity. The intact woven textile sandwich panel and the destroyed one have different anti-crush abilities. Different methods are used to enhance the anti-penetrating of the intact woven textile sandwich panels, for example, increasing the content of the glass fibers, enlarging the diameter of the glass fibers and enlarging the height of front faces and the whole panel. From the experiments, it is concluded that WTSC has light weight, great specific strength and good energy absorption ability. WTSC is a promising light-weight structural material for vehicle bodies.