Feasibility of a wire-woven metal for application as a sandwich core

The strength and stiffness of WBC (Wire-woven Bulk Cross) in two different orientations was investigated under shear load to evaluate its feasibility as a metallic sandwich core material. Analytic solutions were derived, and experiments were performed using specimens fabricated from stainless steel wires. And also, finite element simulations were performed to analyze the experimental results. WBC with X-orientation showed that the lower limit of relative density at which WBC resists shear loading can be as low as 1%, and the shear strength and modulus for a given weight were much higher than other two wire-woven metals. The WBC with X-orientation has statically indeterminate structure without face sheets, but the specific shear strengths and moduli are comparable and somewhat inferior to those of aluminum honeycombs. Moreover, the interior space of WBC can serve various functions such as storage or passage of fluids.