Bending fatigue behaviour of laminated sandwich beams

In this study, the bending fatigue behaviour of laminated sandwich beams, which are made of carbon/epoxy face sheets and aramid honeycomb core, has been investigated experimentally. The wet hand lay-up technique is used and curing is processed on the heated vacuum table at an elevated temperature to manufacture the sandwich beams. The experimental setup for bending fatigue test provides a cantilever in one end and a cyclic load at the free end with constant displacement amplitude at room temperature. The load applied to the beam is measured using a load cell during the bending test. Different displacement amplitudes are performed. Mechanical properties, bending stiffness and free vibration frequency of the sandwich beam are investigated. The bending test of the beams and vibration identification test using a vibration analyzer, a hammer and an accelerometer are performed to measure the bending stiffness and determination of free vibration frequency of the clamped sandwich beams before starting and after completion of the fatigue tests. The bending stiffness and free vibration frequencies before and after the fatigue tests are compared to understand the effect of repeated loadings on the mechanical performance of the laminated sandwich beams.