Dynamic response of cellular metallic sandwich plates under impact loading

The steel plate -- cellular metallic core sandwichconstruction is a new type of composite sandwich plate for protectiveapplications. We study in this paper the shock resistance of this sandwichstructure under impact loading by using two different finite element codes:ABAQUS and LS\_DYNA. The dynamic response of the all-metallic sandwichhaving three different types of core topology: aluminum foam core, squarehoneycomb core and corrugated core is simulated and analyzed. The effect ofvarying core thickness is also investigated. The four kinds of sandwichplates have the same density per unit area. The focus is placed upon on theenergy absorption capabilities of different sandwich plates having the samedensity per unit area. Results of the study indicate that sandwich platewith 22\,mm aluminum foam core is an excellent sandwich structure withstrongest energy absorption capability and smallest deflection inall-metallic sandwich plates by loading the plates with metal foamprojectiles. Further, it is found that the sandwich plates with latticecores have a higher shock resistance than sandwich plates with metallic foamcores of equal mass under penetration impact of rigid bullet.