The effectiveness of the use of honeycomb structures in aircraft
Honeycomb fillers are widely used in critical units of aircraft of all classes: passenger and military aircraft, rockets of various types, spacecraft.
The high efficiency of using honeycomb fillers is due to high breaking stresses compared to others under longitudinal compression, shear, high fatigue strength under bending, durability of three-layer panels under the influence of variable loads, low surface mass in a wide range of weather compressive loads.
Honeycomb structures have a number of unique properties: acoustic resistance, high thermal conductivity, have a low mass when used as a heat insulation hypersonic aircraft.
Examples of the use of honeycomb fillers in the aircraft industry
Civil aircraft
Ailerons, autoclave panels, modules of constructions for toilet rooms, modules of structures for stand-by logging (storage compartments), modules of constructions for kitchen rooms, modules of niche structures for legs, panels of clean rooms, doors, elevators, fairings, doors, flooring, laminates , suspended bunkers, radio transparent covers of the antenna, louver shutters, stabilizers, spacers, reversing devices.
Military aircraft
Fuselage elements: hot-formed and machined. Conventional edges: mechanically machined, docked, X-rayed honeycombs, main hatch, Chassis supports: mechanically machined, docked, X-rayed honeycombs, radio transparent casing *
* – according to EURO-COMPOSITES®
Continuous hot forming of honeycomb filler made of woven prepreg
The technological process includes heating the woven prepreg and forming it into uniformly shaped cells, as well as the subsequent polymerization of the formed cell of the honeycomb filler;
The technological process provides the ability to automate the process of obtaining honeycomb filler given geometric shapes and sizes;
Currently, technologies have been developed for manufacturing honeycomb filler from prepregs on glass, basalt and carbon-woven base.
Fiberglass RB-Composite ECG 6-150 three-layer composite honeycomb filler composite panel
Compression test
Determination of strength at
Compression was carried out according to the ASTM C365 standard on the Zwick Z250 universal testing machine using pressure plates made of surface-hardened steel.
Test conditions: Ambient temperature T = 230С, test speed – 0.5 mm / min, applied preload – 45 N.
| Sample name | Sample thickness, мм | Compressive strength, MPa | The coefficient of variation,% |
| 1 | 13 | 11,7 | 12,63 |
| 2 | 16 | 12,0 | 11,17 |
Fiberglass RB-Composite ECG 6-150 three-layer composite honeycomb filler composite panel
Bending test
Bending strength was determined according to ASTM D790 using the requirements of ASTM C393 on the Zwick Z010 universal testing machine.
Test conditions: ambient temperature 230 ° C, test speed – 6 mm / min, applied preload – 20N, distance between supports – 150 mm.
| № | Sample type | Type of destruction | Height mm | Width, mm | σ, MPa | F,H | σavg, MPa |
| 1 | 1 | MGV | 16,38 | 40,16 | 48,3 | 31772,74 | 43,95 |
| 2 | DGT | 15,84 | 39,71 | 39,6 | 24908,65 | ||
| 3 | 2 | DVT | 20,61 | 39,71 | 43,0 | 35192,19 | 42,20 |
| 4 | DVT | 21,02 | 40,05 | 41,4 | 34852,63 | ||
| 5 | 3 | DGT | 21,73 | 14,04 | 37,8 | 11532,37 | 41,23 |
| 6 | OVT | 20,94 | 14,15 | 45,9 | 13600,22 | ||
| 7 | DVT | 20,71 | 14,14 | 45,4 | 13294,91 | ||
| 8 | DGT | 21,81 | 13,98 | 35,8 | 10915,56 |
Basalt RB-Composite ECB 6-150 three-layer composite honeycomb filler composite panel
Compression test
Determination of strength at compression was carried out according to the ASTM C365 standard on the Zwick Z250 universal testing machine using pressure plates made of surface-hardened steel.
Test conditions: Ambient temperature T = 23°С, test speed – 1 mm / min, applied preload – 45 N.
| Sample name | Sample thickness, мм | Compressive strength, MPa | The coefficient of variation,% |
| 1 | 19 | 16,2 | 11,65 |
| 2 | 20 | 16,5 | 12,01 |
| 3 | 19 | 16,4 | 11,86 |
Carbon RB-Composite ECC 6-250 three-layer composite honeycomb filler composite panel
Compression test
The test was carried out on a Zwick Z250 universal testing machine using pressure plates made of steel with surface hardening at a temperature of 230 ° C, the test speed was 0.5 mm / min, the applied preload was 45 N.
| № | manufacturer | Mark/the basis | Honeycomb size, mm | Sample thickness, mm | Density, kg/m3 | Compressive strength, MPa |
| 1 | LLC «S&P Company “RB-Composite”» | RB-Composite ECG 6-150 /glass | 6 | 13 | 150 | 11,7 |
| RB-Composite ECB 6-150 /basalt | 6 | 20 | 150 | 16,2 | ||
| RB-Composite ECC 6-250 /carbon | 6 | 23 | 250 | 46,3 | ||
| 2 | JSK «ONPP Tecnology» (Russia) | SSP-1-2,5 /glass | 5 | No info | 110 | 5,7 |
| 3 | LLC «Kuranti» (Russia) | 5052-2,25-50 | 4,5 | 20 | 92 | 4,62 |
| 4 | Euro-Composites S. A. (EU) | ECG 4,8-128 /glass | 4,8 | 12,7 | 128 | 11,5 |
| 5 | Hexcel (USA) | HRP-327-3/16-5,0 /glass | 4,76 | 15,8 | 89 | 5,8 |