Sandwich structures represent a special form of a laminated composite material or structural elements, where a relatively thick, lightweight and compliant core material separates thin stiff and strong face sheets. The faces are usually made of laminated polymeric based composite materials, and typically, the core can be a honeycomb type material, a polymeric foam or balsa wood. The faces and the core are joined by adhesive bonding, which ensures the load transfer between the sandwich constituent parts. The result is a special laminate with very high bending stiffness and strength to weight ratios. Sandwich structures are being used successfully for a variety of applications such as spacecraft, aircraft, train and car structures, wind turbine blades, boat/ship superstructures, boat/ship hulls and many others.
The overall objective of the 7
th
International Conference on Sandwich Structures (ICSS-7) is to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of the latest research and technology on all aspects of sandwich structures and materials, spanning the entire spectrum of research to applications in all the fields listed above.