The effect of changing cell parameters on the mechanical properties of honeycomb sandwich panels

Abstract Car body panels are one of the vehicle components that support the existence of the car interior and maintain the safety of passengers, especially in monocoque-type car bodies. Car panel materials, which generally use steel materials, have the disadvantage of being relatively heavy and having a short service life due to corrosion. To achieve higher energy efficiency in energy-efficient vehicles, honeycomb sandwich structures made of polymer composites, which are lighter in weight, can achieve a higher power-to-weight ratio. In this research, a polymer matrix composite material with a honeycomb sandwich structure was created and tested as an alternative material to replace steel for car body panels. Composite made from WR-200 Fiberglass as a reinforcing agent and SHCP 2668 CM-M resin as a bonding agent to determine the effect of the detailed honeycomb sizing, especially on the flexural strength and stiffness characteristics, have been used. Several specimens were made with variations in cell-pitch sizes of 20 and 40 mm, variations in the cell-height size of 10, 20 and 40 mm and variations in the thickness of the cell wall thickness obtained from the use of layers of Fiberglass of one, two and four layers. From the bending tests performed on all specimens, it was known that the highest flexural strength value have the specimens with a cell-pitch size of 20 mm, cell height of 10 mm and cell wall thickness of 4 layers of Fiberglass, namely 36.13 N mm −2 . The specimen has the highest stiffness value with a cell pitch of 40 mm, cell height of 40 mm and cell wall thickness of 4 layers of Fiberglass, which is 338 N mm −1 .