Reducing the weight of the truck vehicle conveys more cargo to be carried by thetrailer. This has a significant impact on the efficiency of the transport lowering both the total cost of cargo moved and the total carbon dioxide emitted. Half of the body in-white weight of a truck is comprised out of panels made out of thin mild forming steel which cannot be made thinner to reduce weight due to the lowered stiffness it would entail. Sandwich materials have a high stiffness to weight ratio and would for the same panel thickness as regular forming steel have a comparable bending stiffness but lowered weight. This master thesis is intended to be a preliminary study for Scania CV AB on sandwich materials and its potential use as lightweight panels in their trucks. With the intention of investigating whether a commercial sandwich material is capable of filling the role as outer panels of a truck, comparative tests regarding significant matters such as forming and painting was made on identically manufactured demonstrators comparing a sandwich material and a regular forming steel material. The tests identified weaknesses in the current manufacturing process for parts of a sandwich material. Such limitations are problems with painting and joining due to isolated cover sheets, forming problems revealing sink marks likely due to different spring back of the material and hemming flaws due to inadequately optimized hemming technique and anisotropy. Now that more knowledge of sandwich materials has been gained, counter measures for these findings can be made in order to take another step towards lowering the weight of the truck and a more efficient way of transporting goods. / Genom att minska vikten på lastbilen frigörs mer last att bäras av släpvagnen. Detta har en betydande inverkan på effektiviteten hos transporten som sänker både den totala kostnaden för transporterad last och de totala koldioxidutsläppen. Hälften aven lastbils rena karossvikt består av paneler gjorda av tunt mjukt formningsstål vilke tinte kan bli tunnare för att minska vikten på grund av den sänkta styvheten som detskulle medföra. Sandwichmaterial har en hög styvhet till viktförhållande och skulle församma paneltjocklek som vanligt formningsstål ha en jämförbar böjstyvhet men sänkt vikt. Denna uppsats är avsedd att vara en preliminär studie för Scania CV AB om sandwichmaterial och dess potentiella användning av lättvitkspaneler i lastbilar.Med avsikt att undersöka huruvida ett kommersiellt sandwichmaterial kan fylla rollen som lastbilens ytterpaneler utfördes jämförande tester med avseende på signifikanta frågor såsom formning och målning på identiskt tillverkade demonstratorer som jämförde ett sandwichmaterial och ett vanligt formningsstål. Testerna identifierade svagheter med materialet samt hur processen behöver anpassas för att kunna använda sandwichmaterialet i rådande tillverkningsprocess. Identifierade problem var bland annat problem med målning och sammanfogning på grund av isolerade ytterskickt i sandwichmaterialet, problem med formning som gav upphov till limdragningar som troligen beror på materialets olika återfjädring samt falsningsfel på grund av otillräckligt optimerad falsteknik och anisotropi. Nu när mer kunskap om sandwichmaterial erhållits kan motåtgärder för de funna resultaten undersökas för att ta ytterligare ett steg mot att sänka lastbilens vikt och därmed få ett effektivare transportmedel.

Fiber-reinforced rubberlike materials (FRRM) commonly used in tires undergo large deformations, and exhibit different response in tension and compression along the fiber direction. Assuming that the response of a fiber-reinforced rubberlike material can be modeled as transversely isotropic with the fiber direction as the axis of transverse isotropy, we express the stored energy function, W, in terms of the five invariants of the right Cauchy-Green strain tensor and the fiber direction, and account for different response in tension and compression along the fiber direction. It has been shown in the literature that in shear-dominated deformations, the 5th invariant, I5, significantly contribution to the stress-strain curve. We have implemented the constitutive relation in the commercial software, LS-DYNA. The numerical solutions of several boundary value problems studied here agree with their analytical solutions derived by using Ericksen's inverse approach, in which a part of the solution is assumed and unknowns in the presumed solution are then found by analyzing the pertinent boundary value problem. However, computed results have not been compared with experimental findings. For W of the FRRMs an expression that is a complete quadratic function of the five invariants is also examined. Homogeneous deformations such as simple extension, simple shear, and biaxial loading problems are studied to delineate the mechanical behaviors of FRRMs. Consistency with the infinitesimal deformation theory requires that linear terms in the 4th and 5th invariants, I4 and I5, be included in the expression for W. Stability analysis of deformations reveals the qualitative changes triggered by the second order terms of the quadratic function. Analytical solutions for inflation, extension and twist deformations caused by internal pressure, end torque, and axial force for a pressurized cylindrical laminate are derived using Ericksen's inverse method. Effects of fiber orientations on the mechanical behaviors of a +/-α angle-ply cylindrical tube are investigated using the derived analytical solutions. The T-peel test, widely used for characterizing adhesion across a plethora of adhesives, adherends, and geometries, results in a range of responses that may complicate meaningful interpretation of the test data. This research effort, involving several specific specimen types, was undertaken to investigate concerns that commonly used configurations may not always result in plateaus in the force-displacement response. We experimentally and numerically study debonding of T-peel specimens having 75 mm bond length and 0.81 mm thick adherends made of either 6061 aluminum (Al) or one of the three steels (G70 70U hot dip galvanized, E60 elctrogalvanized (EGZ), 1010 cold-rolled steel (CRS) bonded with either LORD® 406 or Maxlok™ acrylic adhesive. For the EGZ and the Al adherends, specimens with a bond length of 250 mm and adherend thickness of 1.60 mm are also examined. Effects of adherend materials and thicknesses, bond lengths, and adhesives on test results are examined using three metrics to interpret the T-peel bond performance. We find a limited correlation between the commonly used "T-peel strength" and the energy dissipated per unit debond area. For those two metrics, the relative performances of the CRS and the Al specimens are quite different. Quasi-static plane strain deformations of the test specimens are analyzed by the finite element method (FEM) and a cohesive zone model using the commercial software, ABAQUS, to help interpret the test data. Numerical results provided energies required to elastically and plastically deform the adherends, and help determine the transition from non-self-similar to self-similar debonding. The FE simulations also facilitate determination of the fraction of the crosshead displacement at which self-similar debonding occurs. Results reported herein should help practitioners select appropriate specimen dimensions for extracting meaningful data for adhesive performance. / Ph. D.