Fabrication and crushing behavior of low density carbon fiber composite pyramidal truss structures

A new method for fabricating carbon fiber composite pyramidal truss cores was developed based on the molding hot-press technique. In this method, all the continuous fibers of composite are aligned in the direction of struts and thus, the truss structure can fully exploit the intrinsic strength of the fiber reinforced composite. The microstructure and organizations of fibers of fabricated composite structures were examined using scanning electron microscope. The crushing response of the truss cores was also investigated and the corresponding failure modes were studied and complemented with an analytic model of the core crushing response. Our results show that the fabricated low-density truss cores have superior compressive strength and thus, could be used in development of novel lightweight multifunctional structures. Crown Copyright 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.