The influence of the manufacturing method on the mechanical properties of the honeycomb core sandwich composite

Abstract

Reducing weight and fuel consumption is one of the main goals of modern aeronautical engineering. The most common materials to achieve this goal are composite layered materials, including the sandwich ones. High strength, stiffness and low density have made sandwich composites one of the fundamental materials of the aerospace industry. Sandwich-structured composites can be manufactured with a variety of methods, differing primarily in the manufacturing time, which translates into an overall cost of making a composite component. The research focused on three methods of manufacturing sandwich composite materials with a honeycomb core, differing in the number of operations, during which it was possible to obtain a finished composite panel (single-phase, two-phase and three-phase methods). The authors manufactured and examined composites with a honeycomb cover and two composite glass fibre-reinforced covers. The composites were made by means of the vacuum bag method. As a result of the conducted study, it was found that composites manufactured with the single-phase method have the shortest manufacture time as well as the lowest material consumption, however their strength properties are the lowest. The two-phase method requires a longer manufacture time and more material consumption, however it makes it possible to obtain a composite with higher strength compared with the single-phase method. The three-phase method has the longest composite manufacture time and the highest material consumption.