Flexure tests on flat sandwich construction may be conducted to determine the sandwich flexural stiffness, the core shear strength and shear modulus, or the facings compressive and tensile strengths. Tests to evaluate core shear strength may also be used to evaluate core-to-facing bonds.

This test method is limited to obtaining the core shear strength or core-to-facing shear strength and the stiffness of the sandwich beam, and to obtaining load-deflection data for use in calculating sandwich beam flexural and shear stiffness using Practice D7250/D7250M.

Note 1—Core shear strength and shear modulus are best determined in accordance with Test Method C273 provided bare core material is available.

Facing strength is best determined in accordance with Test Method D7249/D7249M.

Practice D7250/D7250M covers the determination of sandwich flexural and shear stiffness and core shear modulus using calculations involving measured deflections of sandwich flexure specimens.

This test method can be used to produce core shear strength and core-to-facing shear strength data for structural design allowables, material specifications, and research and development applications; it may also be used as a quality control test for bonded sandwich panels.

Factors that influence the shear strength and shall therefore be reported include the following: facing material, core material, adhesive material, methods of material fabrication, core geometry (cell size), core density, adhesive thickness, specimen geometry, specimen preparation, specimen conditioning, environment of testing, specimen alignment, loading procedure, speed of testing, and adhesive void content. Further, core-to-facing strength may be different between precured/bonded and co-cured facings in sandwich panels with the same core and facing material.

Note 2—Concentrated loads on beams with thin facings and low density cores can produce results that are difficult to interpret, especially close to the failure point. Wider load pads with rubber pads may assist in distributing the loads.

1. Scope

1.1 This test method covers determination of the core shear properties of flat sandwich constructions subjected to flexure in such a manner that the applied moments produce curvature of the sandwich facing planes. Permissible core material forms include those with continuous bonding surfaces (such as balsa wood and foams) as well as those with discontinuous bonding surfaces (such as honeycomb).

1.2 The values stated in either SI units or inch-pound units are to be regarded separately as standard. The values stated in each system may not be exact equivalents; therefore, each system shall be used independently of the other. Combining values from the two systems may result in non-conformance with the standard.

1.2.1 Within the text the inch-pound units are shown in brackets.

1.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

2. Referenced Documents (purchase separately) The documents listed below are referenced within the subject standard but are not provided as part of the standard.

ASTM Standards

C273 Test Method for Shear Properties of Sandwich Core Materials

C274 Terminology of Structural Sandwich Constructions

D883 Terminology Relating to Plastics

D3878 Terminology for Composite Materials

D5229/D5229M Test Method for Moisture Absorption Properties and Equilibrium Conditioning of Polymer Matrix Composite Materials

D7249/D7249M Test Method for Facing Properties of Sandwich Constructions by Long Beam Flexure

D7250/D7250M Practice for Determining Sandwich Beam Flexural and Shear Stiffness

E4 Practices for Force Verification of Testing Machines

E6 Terminology Relating to Methods of Mechanical Testing

E122 Practice for Calculating Sample Size to Estimate, With Specified Precision, the Average for a Characteristic of a Lot or Process

E177 Practice for Use of the Terms Precision and Bias in ASTM Test Methods

E456 Terminology Relating to Quality and Statistics

E1309 Guide for Identification of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer-Matrix Composite Materials in Databases

E1434 Guide for Recording Mechanical Test Data of Fiber-Reinforced Composite Materials in Databases

Keywords

bending stress; core modulus; core stress; facing stress; sandwich construction; sandwich deflection; shear stress;

ICS Code

ICS Number Code 83.120 (Reinforced plastics)

Citing ASTM Standards

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