While impact resistance is key in the slamming area of a boat, temperature resistance is required in its dark hull side. In each final product, be it a sailing yacht, a cargo container, a wind turbine blade or a city bus, there are different regions where different characteristics are required of a core material.
Each of these new product developments brings with it a unique characteristic and nowadays the sandwich composite manufacturer is in the comfortable situation of being able to choose the core material which best fits the requirements of their application from among a wide range of products.īut the world is not as simple and uniform as one may wish it to be.
There are many producers providing many different core materials, some of which are based on very sophisticated chemistry and processes. Many of these applications have been established over a number years and are still working very well, proving that the composite sandwich design principle successfully resists tough environmental conditions over the long term, and creating more demand for this technology.Ĭonsequently the composite industry tried to catch up with market needs and has developed more and more materials suitable for use as a core in sandwich structures. Applications range from small parts such as hatches, covers and interior walls, to boat hulls and huge wind turbine blades. More and more manufacturers are successfully using sandwich construction in their load-carrying structures. This principle increases the static height of the part, which leads to a significantly higher stiffness at reduced weight.
#HOW TO GET CORE MATERIAL SKIN#
In order to further decrease the weight of a part, composite technology offers the sandwich design principle – the introduction of a stiff but very low weight core material between two stiff skin layers. The marine industry discovered the advantages of composite materials more than 50 years ago. When it comes to lightweight structures, manufacturing parts in a composite design is now an established technology in many markets. So why try to cover all these requirements with a single core material when combining different materials can significantly the reduce the total cost and weight of such structures. Different applications also require different characteristics. The Westport 130 structure used AIREX R63.140, BALTEK SB.100 and AIREX C70.40 up to C70.200.Ī typical structure consists of different parts which are loaded unequally. The Westport 130 tri-deck motor yacht accommodates 10 passengers and a crew of 8. Alcan Composites offers a wide range of core materials, from balsa, to cross-linked or linear foams, to thermoplastic PET, to industrial urethane foams, fibre-reinforced polyurethane foams and high-performance PEI.