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[Display omitted] • Honeycomb panels with discrete arranged block reinforcements were numerically designed. • The elastic moduli of the new honeycomb panels are higher than those of heavier panels with slatted. • Tables with new cellular panels are characterized by a stiffness of 85 % of the stiffness of heavier tables with slats. Furniture manufacturers indicate they know the benefits of lightweight honeycomb panels but still expect their higher mechanical properties. This work presents a numerical and experimental approach to designing new tables manufactured of paper honeycomb panels with discreetly arranged reinforcing blocks in the core. The main goal was to determine whether the discrete arrangement of the blocks affects the strength and amount of energy absorbed by the newly designed tables and stiffness of honeycomb panels. Optimization reduced the weight of the panels by up to 30 %. At the same time, their linear elastic modulus was increased from 1579 MPa to 1771 MPa. After ten load cycles, tables with discrete reinforcements have a stiffness up 86.85–87.20 % of the stiffness of the reference table. After destructive tests up 89.96–91.16 %. Ultimately, the test results demonstrate the effectiveness of replacing wide slats with discreetly placed reinforcing blocks in the core structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanical response of three different structural core sandwich panels in out-of-plane compression and shear has been analyzed. Specific core shapes examined are arc-tangent, wavy trapezoidal and hemispherical. Unit cells consisting of representative elements of the core attached to face sheets were selected for analysis. Both face sheets and core were assumed made from paper. Finite element analysis employing large deformation and rotations and orthotropic elastic–plastic behavior was used. The results show that the arc-tangent and trapezoidal cores are prone to collapse by extensive bending and buckling, whereas the hemispherical core behaved more stably in compression and shear. Core sheets with a hemispherical shape were prepared from copy paper sheets in a specially designed forming machine. Sandwich test specimens were prepared from this core and tested in out-of-plane compression, and the load-displacement response was compared to predictions from finite element simulations. The experimental and finite element results were consistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural fibers are gaining much interest in composite materials because of their potential to replace conventional glass fibers. In particular, unidirectional flax fiber composites have shown excellent mechanical properties with different thermoset matrices. However, few data are available when they are made with a biodegradable thermoplastic matrix. This paper compares the mechanical properties of two types of unidirectional flax composites using polylactic acid as the matrix: one made with layers of aligned flax rovings alone and the other containing an additional paper layer fabricated using paper making techniques. The results show that specific tensile properties of the flax/PLA (252 MPa·cm 3 ·g −1 ) and flax-paper/PLA (217 MPa·cm 3 ·g −1 ) composites are similar to those made using woven glass fabrics impregnated with epoxy (227–278 MPa·cm 3 ·g −1 ). Very high impact strength (600 J/m) was also obtained for UD flax-paper composites compared to unreinforced resin (15 J/m). Together these mechanical properties are promising for industrial applications of this new reinforcement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Natural continuous bast fibres (hemp, flax, etc.) are gaining popularity in composite materials because they can advantageously replace glass fibres. It is found that intrinsic properties of unidirectional (UD) composites are almost equivalent to those of unidirectional glass fibre composites. Unfortunately it is difficult to get repeatable results because of the inherent variability in the properties of bast fibres compared to glass fibres. Their quality is largely affected by the weather conditions, the extraction location along the plant and the techniques used to extract them (retting, bleaching, etc.). In this work, unidirectional hemp/paper/epoxy and flax/paper/epoxy composites are manufactured by adding one or two sheets of paper at the surface of a unidirectional layer of hemp or flax fibres before molding. The composites are tested under tensile loads and the results compared with those obtained for UD composites made without paper. The results show a significant increase in strength and modulus repeatability when the paper layer is present. A significant increase in strength and modulus was also obtained compared to the base epoxy properties. The resin permeability of the flax–paper reinforcement has also been evaluated and compared to that of a standard glass fabric. Globally, the results suggest that adding thin sheets of paper at the surface of reinforcement layers stabilizes and increases the composite strength but slightly reduces the Young’s modulus. However the permeability of the flax–paper reinforcement was much lower than that of the glass fabric. Modifications to the paper architecture will be required to improve this aspect. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Two-dimensional axially moving materials have a wide range of industrial applications such as papers, plastics and composites in producing lines, power transmission and conveyor belts, etc. In many of these instances, the moving material is not isotropic, but is a single-layer orthotropic material or consists of several orthotropic layers. In this article, free vibration of axially moving symmetrically laminated plates subjected to in-plan forces is studied by classical plate theory. This category includes symmetric cross-ply and angle-ply laminates and anisotropic plates. Firstly, an exact method is developed to analyze vibration of multi-span traveling cross-ply laminates, and then a semi-analytical finite strip method is extended for moving symmetric laminated plates in general, with arbitrary boundary conditions. By the finite strip method intermediate elastic or rigid supports can also be added to the model of the moving plate. The supports may be in the form of point, line or local distributed supports. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents a flexural analysis of I-shaped laminated composite beams. A general analytical model applicable to thin-walled I-section composite beams subjected to vertical load is developed. This model is based on the shear-deformable beam theory, and accounts for the flexural response of the thin-walled composites for arbitrary laminate stacking sequence configuration, i.e. unsymmetric as well as symmetric. Governing equations are derived from the principle of the stationary value of total potential energy. Numerical results are obtained for thin-walled composites under vertical loading, addressing the effects of fiber angle and span-to-height ratio of the composite beam. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Nowadays our society demands the reuse of industrial products. Then we should not only re-investigate the materials of products but also originate a new design method of industrial products. We have investigated the cellular structure by using abandoned paper, because the cell''s shape can be proposed arbitrarily by folding a paper. As examples, we have proposed the structure constructed by connecting many folded cells formed in a hexagonal cross area. This structure will have characteristics such as almost high rigidity, high stiffness, crushing stress, relative insensitivity to the overall loss of stability. To estimate the characteristics of these structures, we must analyze the deformation in loading. When the structure with thin walls formed by paper is loaded, the shape of deformation is different from that of the metal, wall swells and does not maintain its flatness. Therefore, we cannot apply the traditional theory of elasticity for the analysis. In this paper, we propose a new estimation method by analyzing the swelling. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]