Experimental Study of Low-velocity Impact on Polyurethane Foam Core Sandwich Panels Reinforced by Steel Wire

In the present research, the effects of using steel wires on energy absorption of polyurethane foam core/glass-epoxy skin sandwich panels have been investigated experimentally. The impact strength of non-reinforced and reinforced sandwich panels (using two different layouts of steel wires) has been compared. Low-velocity impact test indicates that reinforced samples, with plus layout of steel wires, have 38% and 135% increase in maximum force and energy absorption respectively in comparison with non-reinforced sandwich panels. For cross layout reinforced samples, the improvement of maximum force is not considerable, while the energy absorption increased 107%. Hence, between the two assumed reinforcements, plus layout is more effective in enhancing the low-velocity behavior of sandwich panels. Consequently, the steel wire reinforcement improves the impact resistance of these sandwich panels and could be cost-effective.