Deformation and Failure Behavior of Wooden Sandwich Composites with Taiji Honeycomb Core under a Three-Point Bending Test

A new type of Taiji honeycomb structure bonded outside with wood-based laminates was characterized from a mechanical standpoint. Both theoretical and experimental methods were employed to analyze comprehensively the deformation behavior and failure mechanism under a three-point bending test. The analytical analysis reveals that a Taiji honeycomb has 3.5 times higher strength in compression and 3.44 times higher strength in shear compared with a traditional hexagonal honeycomb. Considering the strength-weight issue, the novel structure also displays an increase in compression strength of 1.75 times and shear strength of 1.72 times. Under a three-point bending test, indentation and core shear failure played the dominant role for the total failure of a wooden sandwich with Taiji honeycomb core. Typical face yield was not observed due to limited thickness-span ratio of specimens. Large spans weaken the loading level due to the contribution of global bending stress in the compressive skin to indentation failure. A set of analytical equations between mechanical properties and key structure parameters were developed to accurately predict the threshold stresses corresponding to the onset of those deformation events, which offer critical new knowledge for the rational structure design of wooden sandwich composites.