Mechanical Properties and Formability Evaluation of AA5182-Polypropylene Sandwich Panels for Big Data Accumulation

Abstract

In this study, characterization was carried out to identify the problems of the aluminum sandwich panel manufacturing process and to establish the optimum manufacturing conditions and the mechanical properties of the sandwich panels were predicted by finite element analysis. Sandwich panels were subjected to room temperature tensile test, bend test, formability test (stretching test) and tensile computer simulation to obtain basic data for application to automobile materials. In addition, in order to determine the bending characteristics necessary for applying the sandwich panel to the commercial vehicle, 3-point and 4-point bending tests were conducted. And in order to investigate a formability of the sandwich panels, the stretching test was performed with Ericsson tester and it was simulated by finite element analysis. Predicted mechanical properties of aluminum surface plate, polypropylene and sandwich plate showed similar results to experimental results. Also, the predicted bending test results of the sandwich plate showed similar values to those of the experimental results, and it was possible to predict the characteristics of the sandwich panels.