Sandwich foaming is a manufacturing process in which a liquid monomer mixture is injected on the bottom face sheet of the sandwich panel where it polymerizes to form cross-linked polyurethane (PUR) foam providing an adhesive joint between the bottom and upper metal sheets. The single-step process avoids manual operations in the assemblage of the panel and the use of adhesive. However, the PUR foam in the core of the panel and at foam-to-face sheet interface may present fluctuations in the mechanical properties. The aim of this study is the mechanical and thermophysical characterization of PUR foam of various densities produced by sandwich foaming. Additionally, a qualitative assessment of the foam-to-face sheet interface is carried out based on the results of the flatwise tensile and shear tests.This work was developed within the scope of the research project “Lightslab – Desenvolvimento
de soluções inovadoras de lajes de painel sandwich”, supported by FEDER funds through the
Operational Program for Operational Program for Competitiveness and Internationalization
(POCI) and the Portuguese National Innovation Agency (ANI) – project no. 33865 [POCI-01-0247-
FEDER-033865]. This work was partly financed by FCT/MCTES through national funds (PIDDAC)
under the R&D Unit Institute for Sustainability and Innovation in Structural Engineering (ISISE),
under reference UIDB/04029/2020. The first and second authors wish also to acknowledge the
grants DFA/BD/8319/2020 and DFA/BD/07696/2021 respectively, provided by Fundação para a
Ciência e a Tecnologia, IP (FCT), financed by European Social Fund and national funds through
the FCT/MCTES
