Indentation behaviour characteristics caused by dominant parameters in polymeric sandwich panels

Sandwich panels are vulnerable to local loads presented by low-velocity impact and they could be damaged, if the level of the local impact loads reaches critical. The initial responses of the sandwich panels up to incipient damage are dictated by the local interaction between the impacter and the sandwich panel. Since such local interaction, so-called indentation behaviour, is coupled with the bending of the panels, its specific contribution to the occurrence of the incipient damage has not been looked at in earnest. The indentation behaviour characteristics in the sandwich panels are much more complex than that of the monolithic laminates, as they depend not only on the local interaction of dominant parameters being varied individually but are also on the coupled effects. This is why it is necessary to isolate the indentation behaviour from the bending responses. The earlier related research [1] identified the indenter diameter, skin thickness and core density as three dominant parameters and investigated the effects of the first two on the indentation behaviour characteristics under rigid support. This work extends it significantly with the focus on the effects of varying core density on the indentation behaviour characteristics of the sandwich panels.