Bending Performance of a Jute Fiber and Epoxy Resin Composite Sandwich Structure with a Bi-directional Corrugated Truss Core

In this study, a bi-directional corrugated lattice sandwich structure was fabricated from jute fibers and epoxy resin. Die casting was used to prepare the core struts and face sheets and two fiber composites were designed to produce structural struts. The configuration and the relative density of the core layer were altered. In addition, the three-point bending properties of each configuration were investigated to explore the various modes of failure, destruction processes, and mechanical properties. Results of the experiments show that failure mainly occurs via three modes: face sheet crushing, face sheet wrinkling, and core member crushing. Moreover, the failure mode is related to the strength of the core struts. Theoretical calculations and finite element analysis were carried out, and the simulation results were in good agreement with experimental results, the relative errors of displacement and load are all within 20 %. In conclusion, the proposed sandwich beam configuration composed of jute fibers could be highly useful for enhancing engineering structurer owing to the simple fabrication process, moreover, the materials are environmentally friendly and inexpensive.