4. Energy absorption

In addition to their structural service properties, sandwich structures can also be used for their protective properties. The core, which is often not very dense, can be compressed, dissipating a great deal of energy while preventing excessive deflection of the opposite face.

When impact protection is a principal stress on the structure, as in the case of aircraft radome for bird's-eye impact, we need to consider the modes of damage caused by indentation of a plate. This problem can be tackled from several angles.

The structure can either be subjected to indentation and bending, or be supported by a plane which ensures that only an indentation load is applied.