Durability of sandwich structures with a maximized natural raw material basis: comparison of expanded polystyrene, cellulose foam and polylactic acid subjected to UV-rain aging

In this study, alternative core materials to commercial cork were searched for. Additionally, aging of new was studied. Bio-based in sandwich structures can be useful for sports equipment, transportation, and furniture with much less impact on the environment comparison their synthetic counterparts. paper, panels made fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) skins various sustainable a thickness 6 mm The were: cork, expanded polystyrene (EPS), cellulose foam, 3D-printed polylactic acid (PLA) honeycomb lattice. FRP composites flax fibre reinforcement bio-based epoxy resin (30% bio-content) used manufacture compete glass reinforced rival composite. experimental analysis panel performance focused out-of-plane behavior due conditioning an ultraviolet (UV) irradiation-rain cabinet. results showed that under mechanical environmental loading, composite foam had comparable or even better shearing load, including UV-rain effects, than EPS cores. Failure localization studied using digital image correlation (DIC). PLA high absolute flatwise tensile strength shear but also greatest degradation by aging.