Research on three-point bending fatigue life and damage mechanism of aluminum foam sandwich panel

Aluminum foams sandwich panel (AFSP) has been used in engineering field, where cyclic loading is used in most of the applications. In this paper, the fatigue life of AFSP prepared by the bonding method was investigated through a three-point bending test. The mathematical statistics method was used to analyze the influence of different plate thicknesses and core densities on the bending fatigue life. The macroscopic fatigue failure modes and damage mechanisms were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicate that panel thickness and core layer density have a significant influence on the bending fatigue life of AFSP and their dispersion. The damage mechanism of fatigue failure to cells in aluminum foam is that the initial fatigue crack begins the cell wall, the thinnest position of the cell wall or the intersection of the cell wall and the cell ridge, where stress concentrations are more likely to occur. The fatigue failure of aluminum foam core usually starts from the semi-closed unit of the lower layer, and the fatigue crack propagates layer by layer along the direction of the maximum shear stress. The results can provide a reference for the practical engineering design and application of AFSP.