In-plane dynamics crushing of a reinforced honeycomb with enhanced energy absorption

Abstract

Recently, an increasing interest in reinforced honeycomb structures (RHC) due to their exceptional mechanical properties and potential applications in energy absorption. This paper focuses on the theoretical and numerical study of the in-plane dynamic crushing response of RHC and the reinforced honeycomb structure with one layer of reinforcement and one layer of non-reinforcement(1 + 1RHC). The 1 + 1RHC was fabricated with a welding method. A displacement-controlled in-plane compressive load was applied to the 1 + 1RHC specimens. Three different deformation modes were monitored at varying impact velocities: low-speed, medium-speed, and high-speed modes. The deformation modes maps were developed to reveal the extent of effects by impact velocity and relative density. For 1 + 1RHC, two distinct plateau stress regions were identified at low-velocity impact loading. Additionally, the first plateau stress value of the 1 + 1RHC structure is 180.4% higher than that of structures with two platform stresses, and the second platform stress value is 71.0% higher than that of structures with two platform stresses. The 1 + 1RHC structure exhibits superior energy absorption and negative Poisson's ratio performance. The paper also discusses the impact of cell wall thickness, angle, and velocity on the crushing strength of both RHC and 1 + 1RHC. The results obtained by theoretical methods align well with that obtained from finite element simulations.