Experimental flatwise tensile strength dataset of carbon fibre reinforced plastic sandwich panels with different core material preparations

Flatwise tension strength of sandwich structure is important for designing a sandwich construction since it provides failure mechanism and debonding strength between the skin faces and the core, as well as (i) core strength and (ii) face strength of the sandwich structures. The flatwise tension strength is affected by many factores: method of core preparation, test environment, testing speed, etc. In this paper, the ambient test temperature was 23 deg C and the humidity was 65%. The testing speed was 0.5 mm/min. Four different core preparations were investigated. ASTM C297 was used as a standard method to get the strength values. Two processes were employed to cure the adhesive during core-to-face bonding. It was found out that cleaning the core with Methyl-ethyl-ketone (MEK) and drying further in an oven gives maximum flatwise tension strength of the sandwich structures, with the value of 5.9 MPa. The data base is important for both the manufacturing and design engineers. For the manufacturing engineers, the data provides a value for process qualification, while for design engineers it gives a maximum allowable strength for designing sandwich construction for tensile loads.