Windsurf-Board Sandwich Panels Under Static Indentation

In recent years composite materials have found application in several fields as sport and sea transportation, where the incidence of the cost of materials is not significant compared with the required high mechanical performances. As a matter of fact, in some sports the whole equipment is nowadays realized in composite materials (i.e. windsurf boards, snowboards). The aim of the present work is to evaluate the mechanical performance of some sandwich structures produced by vacuum bagging technology for the windsurf boards production. The behaviour of the structures is tested under static indentation conditions; different fibres materials, for the skins, and different polystyrene foams, for the core, have been taken into account. In particular both the effect of the kind of fibre (glass, carbon and kevlar fibres) and the effect of the polystyrene cells size (and its density) have been investigated. The purpose was to obtain a stiff structure able to bear localized loads. Additionally, the effects induced on the indentation resistance by both the speed and the diameter of pin have been analysed.