Blast response of gradient honeycomb sandwich panels with basalt fiber metal laminates as skins

In this paper, the blast responses of fiber metal laminates (FMLs) and gradient aluminum honeycomb sandwich panels with FML as skins were experimentally investigated. The woven basalt fabric was chosen as the composite reinforcement in FMLs due to its excellent mechanical and eco-friendly properties. Five different core layer arrangements were considered for sandwich panels in the experiments by arranging honeycomb core layers with different cell geometric dimensions. The deformation/failure modes of sandwich panels were obtained in the experiments, in terms of FML face-sheets and gradient honeycomb cores. The energy absorption of gradient honeycomb cores was quantitatively analyzed by digitizing the deformation/failure region of cores. The results showed that the use of basalt FMLs as face sheets can greatly enhance the blast resistance of sandwich panels compared with that with aluminum sheets as skins. The blast resistance of gradient sandwich panels not only depends on the geometric dimensions and arrangements of core layers, but also related to the intensity of target load which will cause different deformation/failure mechanism of panels. Thus, in order to obtain the best blast resistance, a well-design gradient sandwich panel should have suitable core layer arrangements and geometry to satisfy the intensity of target blast load. The results obtained from current study can give valuable reference to the using of sandwich panels in engineering protection field.