Abstract
The selection of a composite material for any application will involve selection of reinforcing fibre and matrix, and their fractional volume in the resulting material. A properly selected combination will give a composite material high strength and stiffness, low weight, excellent fatigue and corrosion resistance. The present experimental work is a contribution to the study of the mechanical fatigue behaviour under 3-point bending stress, of aramid/aluminium composite panel with honeycomb core. The tests were performed on four specimens for three cyclic loadings (90%, 80% and 70%), and imposed deformation with a load ratio of 0.2 and a frequency of 5 Hz. The results show that the optimal load ensuring better service resistance of the experimented sandwich panel is 0.7 of the material elastic limit (720 N). Observation using optical microscope of fracture faces in static and cyclic flexion showed the different damage modes of skins and core.