Thermo-mechanical postbuckling analysis of sandwich plates with functionally graded auxetic GRMMC core on elastic foundations

Abstract This paper investigates the thermo-mechanical postbuckling behaviors of sandwich plates with auxetic graphene-reinforced metal matrix composite (GRMMC) core resting on elastic foundations. Two cases of the compressive postbuckling of sandwich plates subjected to uni-axial compression in thermal environments and the thermal postbuckling of sandwich plates subjected to a uniform temperature rise are considered. The auxetic GRMMC core having negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) is assumed to be piece-wise functionally graded (FG) by changing the volume fraction of graphene through the thickness domain of the core. The material properties of both metal face sheets and the GRMMC core are assumed to be temperature dependent. The Reddy’s third order shear deformation plate theory and the von Karman-type kinematic nonlinearity are used to formulated the governing equations of the sandwich plate which account for the plate-foundation interaction and the thermal effects. The postbuckling solutions are obtained by employing a two-step perturbation approach. The results reveal that the compressive postbuckling and thermal postbuckling behaviors of sandwich plates with auxetic GRMMC core are significantly influenced by the FG pattern, the face sheet-to-core-to-face sheet thickness ratio, and foundation stiffness.