Comparative Study on Additive Manufacturing of Honeycomb Sandwich Structures Based on Glass Fiber‐Reinforced Polyethylene and Polyamide 6

ABSTRACT The application of additive manufacturing is increasing due to the capability of manufacturing complex‐shaped structures for lightweight applications, which are used in aerospace, automobile, and other transportation industries. Typically, lightweight honeycomb sandwich structures consist of two parts: a core that provides shear stiffness and skin layers with high tensile and compressive strength. An innovative way of producing corresponding sandwich components is hybrid additive manufacturing, whereby both the core and the skin are produced directly in the required size and geometry from fiber‐reinforced thermoplastics. Therefore, this current study focuses on systematic investigations on the design, fabrication, and analysis of 3D‐printed honeycomb sandwich structures using various additive manufacturing techniques such as Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) and Automatic Tape Laying (ATL). The light‐weight honeycomb sandwich structures were fabricated in different cell sizes of 4, 8, and 10 mm using FFF with glass fiber‐reinforced polyethylene (HDPE/GF20) and polyamide 6 (PA6/GF30). The fabricated sandwich structures are provided with additional skin on the bottom and top layers with unidirectional glass fiber‐reinforced thermoplastic tapes (UD tapes) from polyethylene (PE/GF40‐UD) and polyamide 6 (PA6/GF60‐UD) using ATL, followed by a comprehensive analysis using morphological and mechanical test methods. The obtained experimental results are meticulously documented and compared.