Shear characterization of sandwich core materials using four-point bending

A new shear test method for sandwich core materials is proposed and evaluated. Sandwich beams are loaded in four-point bending, and the shear deformation is measured with two rotary sensors. Conditions of idealized sandwich theory are assumed to prevail, and the accuracy of the proposed methodology is thus dependent on a few mechanical and geometric relations between the sandwich constituents. The stress-strain responses for two polymer foam core materials, one relatively brittle and one relatively ductile, are extracted and compared with results from single-block shear tests of the same material batch. The new method provides several benefits with respect to the block shear test. It does not suffer from extreme stress concentrations and the specimens are tested under in-service conditions. Problems arise, however, for the ductile material, predominantly related to large deformations during the test eventually resulting in bending failure of the face sheet instead of shear failure of the core.