Manufacture of braided-textile reinforced multi-walled tubular structures and axial compression behaviors

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) thin-walled tubular structures have been widely used in lightweight energy absorbing components. In this paper, CFRP tubular braided-textiles, foam-filling technique, and sandwich structure were applied to make low-cost multi-walled sandwich tubular structures. Through axial compression tests, the compression behaviors, crushing modes and energy absorption performance of the braided-textile reinforced multi-walled sandwich tubes were contrastively analyzed. Experimental results show that the foam-filling technique and the sandwich structure are both effective in modifying the crushing patterns and improving the energy absorption efficiency. Especially for the multi-walled sandwich structure, it can increase the specific energy absorption (SEA) by at least 66% and change the crushing mode from local bucking to progressive diamond folding. [Display omitted] •A lightweight and economical structure based on hybrid structure and sandwich structure was developed.•CFRP-foam sandwich tubes have more stable failure mode and higher specific energy absorption than single CFRP tubes.•CFRP-foam sandwich tubes show higher energy absorption than the liner sum of CFRP tubes and foam column.