Experimental investigation of in-plane and out-of-plane crushing of aluminum honeycomb

In-plane and out-of-plane crushing properties of the honeycomb core were investigated experimentally and with Digital Image Correlation. The out-of-plane direction of the core was found as the strongest direction which absorbed significant amount of energy during deformation. The ribbon direction was found two times stronger as compared to the transverse direction. Local deformation response in in-plane crushing was analyzed with Digital Image Correlation. It was found that the local plastic strain in the core was mainly in the shear band regime. Additionally, the local plastic strain was found higher as compared to the global stress level. The combination of experimental and Digital Image Correlation results worked excellently well in the determination of global and local deformation mechanism of the honeycomb core. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.