@Article{icces.2023.09075,
AUTHOR = {Gaojian Lin},
TITLE = {Low-Velocity	Impact	Response	of	Sandwich	Composite	Panels	with	Shear	 Stiffening	Gel	Filled	Honeycomb	Cores},
JOURNAL = {The International Conference on Computational \& Experimental Engineering and Sciences},
VOLUME = {26},
YEAR = {2023},
NUMBER = {3},
PAGES = {1--2},
URL = {http://www.techscience.com/icces/v26n3/54056},
ISSN = {1933-2815},
ABSTRACT = {Over	decades,	sandwich	composite	panels	(SCPs) have	been	widely	used	to	fabricate	lightweight	but	strong	
structural	components.	However,	composite	sandwich	structures	are	susceptible	to	impact	damage,	which	
may	severely	reduce	the	structural	stiffness,	stability,	and	load-carrying	capacity[1,	2].	In	order	to	enhance	
the	anti-impact	capacity	of	SCPs,	a	series	of	novel	core	structures[3-5] and	filling	materials[6-8] have	been	
proposed	and	tested.	One	of	them	is	the	shear	thickening	fluids	(STFs),	which	mechanical	behavior	changed	
from	liquid	to	solid	when	subjected	to	high	strain	rate	shear	loading[7,	9].	For	example,	Fu	et	al.[10] filled	
the	 honeycomb	 cores	 of	 	 Carbon	 fiber	 reinforced	 plastic	 (CFRP)	SCPs	with	 the	 styrene/acrylate	 particle	
based	STF.	Low-velocity	impact	tests	showed	that	the	STF-filled	core	could	absorb	more	energy	with	less	
penetration	depth	compared	to	the	traditional	aluminum	foam.	Warren	et	al.[11] evaluated	the	performance	
of	 the	 SCPs	 with	 STF-filled	 honeycomb	 core	 as	 the	 orbital	 debris	 shield	 of	 space	 crafts.	 Through	 the	
hypervelocity	impact	tests,	they	found	the	STF-filled	panels	sustained	significantly	less	damage	than	PEGfilled	panels.<br/>
However,	the	STF-filled	cores	may	suffer	 from	the	leakage	or	evaporation	of	solvent	liquid,	limiting	their	
practical	 applications.	 Most	 recently, shear-stiffening	 gels	 (STG),	 a	 class	 of	 viscoelastic	 polymer,	 were	
developed[12,	 13].	 Similar	 to the	 STFs,	 STG	 is	 soft	 in	 unstressed	 state	 but	 becomes	 much	 stiffer	 when	
subjected	to	external	impacts.	In	consideration	of	the	fascinating	shear	thickening	characteristic	and	stable	
nature,	STG	could	be	a	promising	core	material	for	fabricating	high	performance	SCPs.	Currently,	only	a	few	
work	about	STG-based	composite	panels	were	reported.	Xu	et	al.[14] fabricated	 the	sandwich	structures	
consisting	 of	 two	 layer	 Kevlar	 face	 sheets	 and	 a	 STG	 core.	 A	 large	 enhancement	 of	 energy	 dissipation	
compared	to	neat	Kevlar	was	reported.	Similar	work	was	done	by	Wang	et	al.[15],	who	investigated	the	lowvelocity	impact	 responses	 of	Al-STG-Al	 sandwich	 panels	and	 chloroprene	 rubber	 (CR)-STG-CR	 sandwich	
panels.	Excellent	energy	absorption	property	of	STG	core	was	observed.<br/>
In	this	work,	the	anti-impact	performances	of	the	sandwich	panels	consisting	of	two	CFRP	facings	and	a	STGfilled	honeycomb	core	were	studied.	The	rheological property	of	the	STG	was examined	to	quantify	its	shear	
thickening	characteristic.	The	STG	was	filled	into	the	honeycomb	cores	and	the	low-velocity	impact	response	
of	STG-filled	SCPs	were	systematically	investigated.	The	impact	resisting	mechanism	of	the	STG-filled	SCPs	
were	revealed	through	numerical	simulation.},
DOI = {10.32604/icces.2023.09075}
}