ASTM C297/C297M-04(2010)

In a sandwich panel, core-to-facing bond integrity is necessary to maintain facing stability and permit load transfer between the facings and core. This test method can be used to provide information on the strength and quality of core-to-facing bonds. It can also be used to produce flatwise tensile strength data for the core material. While it is primarily used as a quality control test for bonded sandwich panels, it can also be used to produce flatwise tensile strength data for structural design properties, material specifications, and research and development applications.

Factors that influence the flatwise tensile strength and shall therefore be reported include the following: facing material, core material, adhesive material, methods of material fabrication, facing stacking sequence and overall thickness, core geometry (cell size), core density, adhesive thickness, specimen geometry, specimen preparation, specimen conditioning, environment of testing, specimen alignment, loading procedure, speed of testing, facing void content, adhesive void content, and facing volume percent reinforcement. Properties that may be derived from this test method include flatwise tensile strength.

1.1 This test method determines the flatwise tensile strength of the core, the core-to-facing bond, or the facing of an assembled sandwich panel. Permissible core material forms include those with continuous bonding surfaces (such as balsa wood and foams) as well as those with discontinuous bonding surfaces (such as honeycomb).

1.2 The values stated in either SI units or inch-pound units are to be regarded separately as standard. Within the text the inch-pound units are shown in brackets. The values stated in each system are not exact equivalents; therefore, each system must be used independently of the other. Combining values from the two systems may result in nonconformance with the standard.

1.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.