Development of a finite element model to study the impact behavior of nano-reinforced sandwich structures

In this study, a finite element model was introduced to study the low-velocity impact behavior of sandwich structures with a nano-reinforced polypropylene core and aluminum face sheets. Most previous studies on low-velocity impact behavior of nano-reinforced sandwich structures used experimental and analytical methods. A finite element model was developed in Abaqus software for considering the strain rate effects and the effect of adding nanoparticles simultaneously. In the current study, the aluminum layers and the PP or graphene/PP layers were modeled by using the Johnson-Cook material model. The material constants of the Johnson-Cook material model for nano-reinforced polypropylene were calculated by the strain rate–dependent micromechanics model (SRDM) in the literature previously. The SRDM model is a combination of the Halpin-Tsai micromechanics method and the Goldberg model. So, the Johnson-Cook material constants were examined to simulate the low-velocity impact response of graphene/polypropylene nanocomposites as the core of sandwich structures.