Measurement of the Nonuniform Thermal Expansion Coefficient of a PVC Foam Core by Speckle Interferometry - Influence on the Mechanical Behavior of Sandwich Structures

This article aims to investigate the mechanical behavior of a PVC foam core under thermal loading. The speckle, full-field interferometric technique is used for the determination of the nonlinear coefficient of thermal expansion of PVC foam. A significant gradient is highlighted and correlated to a gradient in density or hardness observed experimentally. Finally, a simulation shows the effect of taking such gradients into account for the stress state calculation for a sandwich structure submitted to a temperature variation.