In this experiment the adhesive fillet formation and adhesive mechanical strength are evaluated as a function of several different design variables. Aluminum and Nomex honeycomb core are considered to study the effect of core cell size and core material. The variables of the study are:
• Thickness of the adhesive film.
• Reticulation process of the adhesive. A crosslinking reaction that involves the formation of a three dimensional network formed by the union of the different homogeneous polymer chains within a polymer.
The mechanical performance of any sandwich panel depends on the quality of the core-face sheet adhesive bond, in addition, the structural strength depends on the formation of a fillet at the interface. It has been discovered that the fillets are an
…show more content…
To study the effect of reticulation of the core panels 1–4, 7 and 8 are considered. It is observed that, the reticulation improves FWT strength of panel 2 by 16% when is compared to panel 1. Similarly, panel 4 has 17% higher FWT strength when is compared to panel 3. However, for panels 7 and 8 the effect of reticulation is not useful. It is observed that the Nomex core has a lower tensile strength than the adhesive, and hence failure is produced in the core.
In addition, to study the effect of core cell size panels 1 and 5 are taken into consideration. The panel with the lower core cell size (panel 1) shows higher FWT strength compared to the panel with higher core cell size (panel 5).
Moreover, so as to take into account the effect of the adhesive thickness, panels 1–4 are considered. Panels 1 and 2 have a single adhesive layer while panels 3 and 4 have two of them. Panels 1 and 3 are both non-reticulated and show a 47% increase in FWT strength within an increase in the adhesive thickness. Panel 4 shows a 48% higher FWT strength respect to his homologue panel 2, in this case both panels are