Structures, Properties, and Applications of Honeycomb in Composites Manufacturing

Honeycomb structures are made up of a lattice of hollow, thin-walled cells that have relatively good compression and shear capabilities out-of-plane while being low in density.

Honeycomb structures are made up of a lattice of hollow, thin-walled cells that have relatively good compression and shear capabilities out-of-plane while being low in density.

Although the geometry of honeycomb structures can vary greatly, all honeycomb structures have a lattice of hollow, thin-walled cells that are frequently hexagonal and columnar. Honeycomb structures enable material minimization to reduce weight and money during the design phase. Furthermore, honeycomb structures have extremely high out-of-plane compression and shear properties despite their low density, implying that they have very high specific strengths. As a result, honeycomb structure materials are popular in the aerospace industry. Click here for Honeycomb Core Sandwich Panels.

Honeycomb Mesh Fabrics

A frequent application for honeycomb materials is to use a honeycomb mesh to either minimize or produce wind turbulence depending on the situation. The length ratio (length vs. honeycomb cell diameter) is a crucial consideration when creating the mesh. Turbulence intensity is reduced for length ratios of less than one, making these materials excellent for usage on a vehicle's front grill. Longer length ratios, on the other hand, tend to lessen lateral turbulence and eddies in the wind flow. However, when employed without screens, they increase the severity of turbulence, which is why both honeycombs and screens are commonly utilized in current wind tunnels.

Examples of Natural Honeycomb Structures

Beehives and honeycomb weathering in rocks, tripe, and bone are natural examples of honeycomb architecture. Man-made honeycomb structures are often sandwich-structure composites with thin plates encircling honeycomb cores. Many different materials can be used to form the core depending on the situation, such as paper and thermoplastics for low loads or aluminum or fiber-reinforced polymers for heavy loads.

Honeycomb Structures' Mechanical Properties

The mechanical characteristics of honeycomb structures are orthotropic, which means that their values change depending on the orientation of the stress in the material. As a result, the two symmetry planes must be identified and separated. The strongest direction is the L-direction, while the most compliant direction is the W-direction (positioned 60o from the L-direction if the honeycomb is a regular hexagon).

Honeycomb materials are traditionally produced using three methods: expansion, corrugation, and molding. Today, composite honeycomb materials are created by the use of expansion and corrugation. Metal honeycomb materials (typically aluminum) are created purely through the expansion process. Thermoplastic honeycomb materials, on the other hand, are often created by extrusion methods and then cut to form honeycomb sheets.