Bending and springback theory of metal-polymer sandwich laminates

In this report an analysis is made of the behavior of sandwich beams in which the core polymer is laminated on both sides with surface metal sheets, each of which has a different thickness and mechanical properties when they are loaded with a uniform bending moment which is then released resulting in springback of the bent sandwich beam. It is assumed that the polymer behaves elastically because the bending strain in the core is small and its elastic limit is much larger than that of metals. Sandwich beams have various elastoplstic stess distributions when bent depending on the mutual relationships between their dimensions, the mechanical moduli, and the applied bending moment. Further, residual curvatures, shifting position of neutral axis, and residual stress distributions in sandwich beams variously elastoplastically stressed initially on the decrease of applied bending moment are analyzed.