Mechanical and Thermomechanical Response of Co-Cured QFRP Sandwich Structures with Additively Manufactured Fibre-Reinforced Gyroid Cores
- 1Composite Materials Laboratory for Aeronautical Field, Romanian Research & Development Institute for Gas Turbines—COMOTI, 220D Iuliu Maniu Av., 061126 Bucharest, Romania
- 2Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics and Robotics Department, Mechanical Engineering Faculty, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, 700050 Iasi, Romania
Abstract
This study investigates the mechanical and thermomechanical response of quartz-fibre-reinforced polymer (QFRP) sandwich structures incorporating additively manufactured gyroid cores. Three core variants were considered under the same nominal gyroid topology and 28% infill setting: chopped-carbon-fibre-reinforced polyphthalamide (PPA-CF), chopped-carbon-fibre-reinforced ONYX, and ONYX incorporating additional continuous carbon-fibre reinforcement (ONYX-R). Identical QFRP face sheets manufactured from woven quartz-fibre/cyanate-ester prepreg were co-cured directly onto the printed cores without a separate adhesive film. The resulting sandwich structures were characterized by flatwise compression, three-point bending, and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Under flatwise compression, QFRP-ONYX-R exhibited the highest yield strength, 12.45 ± 0.16 MPa, followed by QFRP-PPA-CF at 11.70 ± 0.10 MPa, whereas QFRP-ONYX yielded at 2.00 ± 0.09 MPa. QFRP-PPA-CF exhibited the highest nominal maximum bending stress (131.55 ± 3.50 MPa) and apparent bending modulus (7.32 ± 0.07 GPa), while QFRP-ONYX-R showed an intermediate flexural response and QFRP-ONYX exhibited the greatest deformation capacity before break. DMA revealed a strong dependence of the apparent structural response on core configuration. QFRP-PPA-CF exhibited the highest storage modulus, approximately 8.4 GPa at 30 °C, and retained approximately 1.9–2.0 GPa at 160 °C. QFRP-ONYX-R displayed intermediate stiffness but the highest principal tan δ response, with peaks of 0.135–0.150 at approximately 97–100 °C, whereas QFRP-ONYX exhibited the lowest storage and loss moduli. Overall, the results show that, under a nominally similar gyroid architecture, core material and reinforcement strategy strongly modify compressive yielding, bending behaviour, apparent thermomechanical stiffness, and damping in QFRP-faced sandwich structures.
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BibTeX
@article{buga2026mechanical,
title = {{Mechanical and Thermomechanical Response of Co-Cured QFRP Sandwich Structures with Additively Manufactured Fibre-Reinforced Gyroid Cores}},
author = {Vlad Buga and Teodor Adrian Badea and Madalina-Andreea Mustareata and Alexandru Ciubotariu and Raluca Maier and Andrei Timonia and Laurentiu Petre and Ciprian Ionuț Morăraș and Viorel Goanță},
journal = {Polymers},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3390/polym18202603},
url = {https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/18/20/2603},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Mechanical and Thermomechanical Response of Co-Cured QFRP Sandwich Structures with Additively Manufactured Fibre-Reinforced Gyroid Cores
AU - Vlad Buga
AU - Teodor Adrian Badea
AU - Madalina-Andreea Mustareata
AU - Alexandru Ciubotariu
AU - Raluca Maier
AU - Andrei Timonia
AU - Laurentiu Petre
AU - Ciprian Ionuț Morăraș
AU - Viorel Goanță
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Polymers
DO - 10.3390/polym18202603
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/18/20/2603
AB - This study investigates the mechanical and thermomechanical response of quartz-fibre-reinforced polymer (QFRP) sandwich structures incorporating additively manufactured gyroid cores. Three core variants were considered under the same nominal gyroid topology and 28% infill setting: chopped-carbon-fibre-reinforced polyphthalamide (PPA-CF), chopped-carbon-fibre-reinforced ONYX, and ONYX incorporating additional continuous carbon-fibre reinforcement (ONYX-R). Identical QFRP face sheets manufactured from woven quartz-fibre/cyanate-ester prepreg were co-cured directly onto the printed cores without a separate adhesive film. The resulting sandwich structures were characterized by flatwise compression, three-point bending, and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Under flatwise compression, QFRP-ONYX-R exhibited the highest yield strength, 12.45 ± 0.16 MPa, followed by QFRP-PPA-CF at 11.70 ± 0.10 MPa, whereas QFRP-ONYX yielded at 2.00 ± 0.09 MPa. QFRP-PPA-CF exhibited the highest nominal maximum bending stress (131.55 ± 3.50 MPa) and apparent bending modulus (7.32 ± 0.07 GPa), while QFRP-ONYX-R showed an intermediate flexural response and QFRP-ONYX exhibited the greatest deformation capacity before break. DMA revealed a strong dependence of the apparent structural response on core configuration. QFRP-PPA-CF exhibited the highest storage modulus, approximately 8.4 GPa at 30 °C, and retained approximately 1.9–2.0 GPa at 160 °C. QFRP-ONYX-R displayed intermediate stiffness but the highest principal tan δ response, with peaks of 0.135–0.150 at approximately 97–100 °C, whereas QFRP-ONYX exhibited the lowest storage and loss moduli. Overall, the results show that, under a nominally similar gyroid architecture, core material and reinforcement strategy strongly modify compressive yielding, bending behaviour, apparent thermomechanical stiffness, and damping in QFRP-faced sandwich structures.
SN - 2073-4360
ER -