Study on mechanical behavior of composites stitched foam sandwich panels under flatwise compression and shear

Experiments on three kinds of composite foam core sandwich structures under flatwise compression and shear were present herein. Unstitch foam, lock-stitch foam and Tufting stitch foam sandwich structures were produced using the same face materials in order to study the stitch methods how to influence the mechanical property and failure modes. The experimental results show the significant increase in the strength and modulus of flatwise compression and shear of the stitched foam sandwich structures. Different stitch methods brought the different extent increases of the stitched structures. Tufting stitch is better than lock-stitch in the increasing of the strength and modulus. The results can be used in structural design and theoretical analysis.