Characteristics of joining inserts for composite sandwich panels

Composite sandwich constructions are widely employed in various light weight structures, because composite sandwich panels have high specific stiffness and high specific bending strength compared to solid panels. Since sandwich panels are basically unsuited to carry localized loads, the sandwich structure should provide joining inserts to transfer the localized loads to other structures. In this work, the load transfer characteristics of the partial type insert for composite sandwich panels were investigated experimentally with respect to the insert shape. The static and dynamic pull out tests of the composite sandwich panels composed of an aluminum honeycomb core, two laminates of carbon fiber/epoxy composite and aluminum insert, were performed. From the experiments, the effect of the insert shape on the mechanical characteristics of composite sandwich panels was evaluated.