Bending response of three‐layers sandwich panels with steel skins and aluminium foam core

Abstract The introduction in the market of metal foams represents a significant opportunity to increase the use of metal in the construction market. In fact, the development of new products made of metal foams and steel could allow improving the performances of conventional buildings in terms of stiffness and resistance. The first structural applications of these materials have already shown the potentialities of composites made of foam and steel, verifying the possibility to realize mono‐dimensional and bi‐dimensional elements with high resistance‐weight ratio. The reduction of the structural weight can represent a significant advantage in many cases, such as for buildings in seismic zone or infrastructures. Within this framework, the objective of the preliminary work presented in this paper is to analyze the response of composite sandwich panels made of steel and aluminium foam with a set of tests which will serve as the basis of development for a new system of dry assembled composite floors. The tests have been carried out at the laboratory StrEngTH of the University of Salerno, verifying the mechanical properties of only‐foam panels and of double skin glued sandwich panels. The tests have allowed to obtain the basic mechanical properties of both foams and sandwich panels.