Towards the Development of a Low-Carbon Emission Sandwich Panel—A State-of-the-Art Review

A sandwich panel, which is composed of two thin, high-stiff skins separated by a low-density, thick core, has significant advantages as a construction system because it is lightweight, strong, and thermally insulated. Aluminium, titanium, steel, plastics, and fibre composites are commonly used materials for the skins, while synthetic foam, metal, concrete, and polymer are typically used for the core materials. The problem with the use of these materials is that they emit high levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result of their production process such as the carbon embodied rates for manufacturing of per tonne of Aluminium, plastic and steel are respectively 4.80 tonnes, 3 tonnes and 1.85 tonnes. It is therefore a requirement today to overcome the limitations of the sandwich materials by using materials that emit low levels of carbon dioxide. In this paper, the environmental impacts of existing sandwich panel materials are evaluated following a systematic literature review and alternative materials for manufacturing sandwich panels with low carbon emissions are proposed. This review will provide researchers and end users with a better understanding of how to develop next generation low carbon emission sandwich panels that can support global goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and promote the circular economy.