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Composite Structures
Volume 86, Issues 1–3, November 2008, Pages 107-113

An experimental study of the insert joint strength of composite sandwich structures

Keun-Il Song a, Ji-Young Choi a, Jin-Hwe Kweon a , Jin-Ho Choi a, Kwang-Soo Kim b

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Abstract

This paper addresses an experimental study of the pull-out and shear failure loads of composite sandwich insert joints. For specimen
fabrication, a Nomex honeycomb core and a carbon–epoxy composite were used. The film-type adhesive FM73 was used for core and
face co-cured bonding. Specimen sizes are 120 × 120 mm2 for the pull-out test and 60 × 120 mm2 for the shear loading test. About 80
specimens of 16 different types depending on the core height and density, face thickness, insert clearance, and loading direction were
tested. The results show that while the insert joint failure loads for pull-out loading are affected by the core height and density, they
are also greatly influenced by the face thickness. The joints with 0.11 mm clearance between the insert flange and the composite face,
which is filled with potting material, showed larger failure loads compared to tightly fitted insert joints. In the shear loading, the
failure loads of joints were dominated by the face thickness, while core properties such as the core height and direction had little
effect on the failure load.

Introduction

Sandwich structures consist of faces carrying in-plane loads and a core that supports transverse shear loads, as shown in Fig. 1.
Generally, the face of the sandwich consists of high-stiffness materials such as composites but the core uses light materials such as
Nomex or aluminum honeycomb because the main structural function of the core is to sustain the strong faces. The structural
function of faces supporting in-plane loads is similar to the flange of an I-beam, while the function of core-supporting shear loads is
similar to the web of an I-beam.

It is possible using a sandwich structure to increase the bending moment of inertia of a structure with a minimum increase in weight.
This implies that the sandwich structure can very efficiently carry the bending moment and compression, which explains why they
are widely used in many places such as aerospace structures, ships, cars, loads, harbors, trains, and wind turbines.

While sandwich structures have high specific stiffness and specific strength values, they have a weakness related to joining. The core
of the sandwich is normally light, soft and weak in order to lessen the weight. Accordingly, it cannot directly support mechanical
joints such as bolts and rivets. Consequently, in order to install a bolt or rivet, as shown in Fig. 2, the core should be reinforced with
some potting materials and inserts to sustain the fasteners. Fasteners are mounted into the insert. Due to the complex mechanism of
a sandwich joint, an experimental approach is likely more viable in the evaluation of the joint strength.

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1/18/22, 3:16 PM An experimental study of the insert joint strength of composite sandwich structures - ScienceDirect
Although there is related literature available, most center on the mechanical properties of simple sandwich structures without
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mechanical inserts and reinforcements by potting materials. Below is a brief summary of the related research.

Thomsen et al. [1], [2] suggested a mathematical model for the analysis of sandwich insert joints with a honeycomb core and an elastic
Get
face.Access
They focused on the effect of potting methods. Burchardt [3] investigated how fatigue cracks propagate in a sandwich structure
with a face consisting of a glass/polyester composite, a PVC form core and an epoxy potting when bending fatigue loads were applied.
Demelio et al. [4] studied the fatigue strength of a sandwich structure with a Kevlar/epoxy composite face, a Nomex core and a rivet
joint. Two types of loading, pull-out and shear, were applied without reinforcement of the fasteners. Bozhevolnaya et al. [5], [6] showed
that stress concentration due to material discontinuity caused by potting material can be minimized by reducing the potting material
progressively. Cao et al. [7] designed and tested a composite sandwich of steel hybrid joints for a ship. Helmuth et al. [8]
experimentally investigated an efficient design method of a composite sandwich T-joint for a ship. Yeh et al. [9] also conducted a test
and an analysis of the bolt joint strength of a composite sandwich T-joint. Belingerardi et al. [10] conducted a four-point bending
fatigue test of a sandwich bar.

As implied above, it is difficult to find studies concerning the insert joints of sandwich structures with a honeycomb core, a composite
face, and potting. The main objective of the present study is to investigate the effects of parameters such as the core height and
density, the face thickness, the insert clearance, and the loading direction on the failure loads of the sandwich joints. About 80
specimens of 16 different types with differing parameters were tested. The face and core were a carbon–epoxy composite and a Nomex
honeycomb core. Two types of loading, pull-out and shear, were applied through a bolt to an insert potted in a Nomex core.

Section snippets

Specimen preparation and test

About 80 sandwich specimens of 16 different types were fabricated. Each type included five specimens (16 × 5 = 80). The dimensions of
the pull-out and shear specimens were 120 × 120 and 60 × 120 (width × length, unit:mm), respectively. The parameters are the core
height and density, and the face thickness. The shape of the specimens including the fixture is shown in Fig. 3, Fig. 4. Specimen
details are given in Table 1, Table 2.

The face material was a carbon–epoxy fabric (wsn3k) supplied by SK chemical.…

Pull-out failure loads

About 40 sandwich specimens of eight different types were tested under pull-out loading. To evaluate the design conservatively, a
failure load is defined as a load corresponding to the first peak in the load–displacement curve, as shown in Fig. 9. The first peak of
the load–displacement curve denotes the start of a failure in a honeycomb core at the boundary of the potted region. Even after this
point, however, the structure continues to support additional load, as the composite face over the…

Conclusions

An extensive parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of design variables such as the core height and density, the face
thickness, and the insert clearance on the failure loads of a sandwich insert joint. During pull-out loading, the core density most
affected the failure loads. This was followed by the core height and face thickness. The ratios of the failure load increase to the weight
increase were 0.82, 0.70, and 0.68. It is remarkable that the effects of the face thickness…

Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the KSLV-1 project of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and a Korea Research Foundation Grant
funded by the Korean Government (MOEHRD) (KRF-2005-005-J09902).…

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S026382230800072X 2/5
1/18/22, 3:16 PM An experimental study of the insert joint strength of composite sandwich structures - ScienceDirect
G. Belingardi et al.
Shri Govindram Seksaria Institute of Technology and Science does not subscribe to this content.
Fatigue analysis of honeycomb-composite sandwich beams
Composites (2007)

H. Toftegaard
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Design and test of lightweight sandwich T-joint for naval ships
Composites (2005)

J. Cao et al.
Design and testing of joints for composite sandwich/steel hybrid ship hulls
Composites (2004)

E. Bozhevolnaya et al.
Local effects in the vicinity of inserts in sandwich panels
Composites (2004)

E. Bozhevolnaya et al.
Structurally graded core inserts in sandwich panels
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There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

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…Similar observations have been made by Nguyen et al. [18] for foam core sandwich panels. The failure loads for potted inserts are strongy influenced
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