COMPRESSIVE AND SHEAR BUCKLING ANALYSIS OF METAL-MATRIX COMPOSITE SANDWICH PANELS UNDER DIFFERENT THERMAL ENVIRONMENTS

Combined inplane compressive and shear buckling analysis was conducted on flat rectangular sandwich panels using the Rayleigh-Ritz minimum e nergy method with a consideration of transverse shear effect of the sa ndwich core. The sandwich panels were fabricated with titanium honeyco mb core and laminated metal matrix composite face sheets. The results show that slightly slender (along the unidirectional compressive loadi ng axis) rectangular sandwich panels have the most desirable stiffness -to-weight ratios for aerospace structural applications; the degradati on of buckling strength sandwich panels with rising temperature is fas ter in shear than in compression; and the fiber orientation of the fac e sheets for optimum combined-load buckling strength of sandwich panel s is a strong function of both loading condition and panel aspect rati o. Under the same specific weight and panel aspect ratio, a sandwich p anel with metal matrix composite face sheets has a much higher bucklin g strength than one having monolithic face sheets.