Face sheet

The thin, stiff outer layer bonded to each side of a sandwich core, typically a fibre-reinforced laminate or a metal sheet. Face sheets carry the in-plane tensile and compressive loads generated when the panel bends, while the core separates them and carries the shear.

Also known as: skin, facing, face skin

Related terms

Core material

The lightweight central layer of a sandwich construction, bonded between two thin, stiff face sheets to raise a panel's bending stiffness with minimal added weight. Common structural cores include polymer foams, honeycombs, end-grain balsa and syntactic materials, each specified by density, thickness and shear properties.

Core materialsComposites & laminatesMaterials science (general)AerospaceAutomotiveConstructionMarineGreen energyIndustrial

Skin-core debond

Loss of adhesion between a sandwich panel's face sheet and its core, arising from manufacturing defects, impact damage, moisture ingress or fatigue. It removes the shear connection the panel relies on and can grow under load, so debonds are a key target of non-destructive inspection.

Core materialsComposites & laminatesAerospaceAutomotiveMarineGreen energyIndustrial

Laminate

A composite element built up from multiple bonded layers (plies) of reinforcement and matrix, consolidated and cured so that they act as a single structural material. Its stiffness and strength depend on the fibre orientations and stacking sequence of the plies.

Composites & laminatesAerospaceAutomotiveConstructionMarineGreen energyIndustrial

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