Study on potential mahang of local wood as a core in fiberglass reinforced polymer sandwich composite in naval structure

Balsa wood is commonly used as core materials in sandwich structures for weight critical applications such naval structures. The present study evaluates the physical and mechanical properties on the different arrangement of mahang wood (parallel-to-grain and perpendicular-to-grain) on middle and bottom part for sample of mahang tree as core of sandwich composite. These four specimens were tested their water absorption, moisture content, and density for physical testing. Meanwhile, for mechanical properties the samples were tested on compression, three-point bending and tensile tests. In parallel compression, bending and tension, the strength increase linearly with density (based on mahang wood parts; middle and bottom). Meanwhile, in perpendicular, the strength varies nonlinearly.