Calibration of orthotropic plasticity- and damage models for micro-sandwich materials

Abstract

Sandwich structures are commonly used to increase bending-stiffness without significantly increasing weight. In particular, micro-sandwich materials have been developed with the automotive industry in mind, being thin and formable. In the present work, it is investigated if micro-sandwich materials may be modeled using commercially available material models, accounting for both elasto-plasticity and fracture. A methodology for calibration of both the constitutive- and the damage model of micro-sandwich materials is presented. To validate the models, an experimental T-peel test is performed on the micro-sandwich material and compared with the numerical models. The models are found to be in agreement with the experimental data, being able to recreate the force response as well as the fracture of the micro-sandwich core.