Performance of aluminum foam–steel panel sandwich composites subjected to blast loading

The response of sandwich panels with aluminum foam core under blast loading was conducted to investigate the blast wave attenuation ability and the deformation mechanism of the sandwich structure. Closed-cell aluminum foam cores with different densities, manufactured by molten body transitional foaming process were used in the experiment. A comparative study on the attenuation ability of mild steel plates and sandwich panels with aluminum foam core was carried out. The results showed that the peak load was reduced by 61.54–64.69% in sandwich panels with foam core compared to the mild steel plates without foam core. The effect of the interface between steel and aluminum foam as well as porous structure on the wave attenuation ability was characterized. The deformation mechanism of aluminum foam core was also discussed. It is clear that the energy was dissipated mainly by the formation and growth of cracks. Blast tests performed on the sandwich structure with different aluminum foam core densities indicated that the ratio of the peak load incident to the sandwich structure and the peak load transmitted from the sandwich structure increased as the decrease of foam core density.