Flexural characteristics of bio-based sandwich beams made of paper honeycomb cores and flax FRP skins

In this study, a total of 18 large-scale bio-based sandwich beams made of flax FRP skins and two types of paper honeycomb core were studied. The parameters of the tests were skin thickness (1,2 and 3 layers of flax FRP) and core types (namely, hollow and foam-filled). Each specimen was 1200 mm long, 100 mm wide and approximately 80 mm thick and was tested by three-point bending. The failure modes were observed, and the test data were collected and processed. The test results were shown by Load-Deflection diagrams, and MomentCurvature diagrams. Overall, the bio-based sandwich structures have potential to be used for building applications with much less environmental footprints in comparison with other synthetic counterparts.