S.M.R Khalili - Professor, Center of Excellence for Research in Advanced Materials and Structures, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, IRAN
H Fatehi - Department of Mechanical Engineering, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the failure load of edge inserts in sandwich structures under pull out conditions. Specimens were constructed from PVC foam and glass-epoxy laminates. The insert that used in this investigation is a special types of insert that upper composite skin of sandwich panel are stayed on the upper flange of the insert. This action reinforces the junction between the insert and the sandwich panel. To study the mechanical behavior of the specimens under Pull out load, two types of joints these joints with and without potting material are examined. The experiments showed that the failure modes of the sandwich panels with insert are a combination of different modes, such as debonding of the insert from the laminates and the core, cracks in the core, composite laminates failure and when the insert debonded from the bottom skin, the junction is failed and the load at this point named as the failure load of at the junction. Comparison of the failure loads in the reinforced and non-reinforced specimens are showed that the potting material leads to 74.5% increase in the failure load.

Sandwich panel, Edge Insert, Pull out, potting material, Reinforce