The core material foam plastic sandwich structure is a layered composite structure composed of a panel and a lightweight foam core material. The panels are mostly aluminum panels, carbon fiber, glass fiber, and aramid composite panels. The outstanding features of the core foam sandwich structure are high bending stiffness, light weight, and material strength can be fully utilized. The performance of the foam sandwich structure depends on the panel material and the foam core material. Generally, the rigid foam sandwich structure has excellent mechanical properties.

There are two main methods of manufacturing the foam sandwich structure: one is to make the foam core first and then form the panel on it; the other is to make the panel first, and then sweep the foam in the space surrounded by it. Thermosetting foam is first foamed into a blank, and then the blank is heated and foamed again. The foam interlayer can be used as the rudder surface of the aircraft, the door, the rotor of the helicopter, etc.

It can also be used for other civil purposes such as sound insulation, heat insulation and shock absorption components. The rigid core foam plastic sandwich structure is mostly load-bearing, and the soft foam sandwich structure is subjected to large force and deformation, which is suitable for shock absorption. In sandwich structures, PMI structural foam can act as a structural unit. In the past, PMI foam was generally only used as the filling material, regardless of its contribution of strength and stiffness to the structure.

The main reason is that the foam materials used in the past, such as PUR foam, are generally foamed in the cavity after the structure is completed, so the quality, uniformity and mechanical properties of the foam are difficult to guarantee. The foam adopts a unique solid foaming technology, and the quality, uniformity and mechanical properties of the foam can be guaranteed.

PMI foam is currently a rigid polymer foam material with high specific strength and specific stiffness Z. Through calculation, if the PMI structural foam is used as the structural unit of the sandwich structure, the panel can reduce 1-2 layers of carbon fiber layup. PMI foam sandwich structure can be used as a structural sandwich structure, and the application field breaks through the traditional view of non-structural sandwich structures such as honeycombs in the past.