Sandwich structures possess a high bending stiffness compared to monolithic structures with a similar weight. This makes them very suitable for lightweight applications where high stiffness to weight ratios are needed. Most common manufacturing methods of sandwich structures involve adhesive bonding of the core material with the sheets. However, adhesive bonding is prone to delamination, a failure mode which is often difficult to detect.
In this paper, the results of delamination testing of fully additive manufactured (AM) AlSi10Mg sandwich structures with pyramidal lattice truss core are presented. To characterise the bonding strength, climbing drum peel tests and out-of-plane tensile tests are done. The thickness of the faces and the diameter of the struts is 0.5 mm, while the core is 2 mm thick. The inclination of the struts is 45°. To predict the expected failure loads and modes, analytical formulas are derived. The analytics and tests are supported by finite element (FE) calculations. From the analytic approaches, design guidelines to avoid delamination in AM sandwich structures can be followed. The study shows, that critical ratios for face sheet thickness to strut diameter can be determined, to define if the structure tends to delaminate under certain loads. Those ratios are mainly influenced by the strut inclination. The peel tests resulted in face yielding, which can also be followed from the analytics and numerics. The out-of-plane tensile tests didn't damage the structure.