Quasi-Static Axial Crushing Behavior of Honeycomb-Filled Thin-Walled Aluminum Tubes

Abstract

The experimental and numerical quasi-static crushing behaviors of Nomex™ honeycomb-filled thin-walled Al tubes were investigated. The honeycomb filler was modeled using a unit cell model. The numerical model and experimental results have shown that, 6.4 mm and 4.8 mm cell size honeycomb filling had no effect on the deformation mode (diamond); however 3.2 mm cell size honeycomb filling changed the deformation mode to mixed/concertina. Honeycomb filling was also shown to increase the specific energy absorption of filled tubes over that of Al tube. The specific energy absorption of honeycomb filling was further compared with those of tube wall thickening and Al closedcell foam filling.