Quasi-static and dynamic experiments of aluminum honeycombs under combined compression-shear loading

In this paper, aluminumhexagonal honeycombs are experimentally studied for their mechanical behavior under combined compression-shear loads. Quasi-static and dynamic tests were conducted at five different loading velocities ranging from 5 x 10(-5) ms(-1) to 5 ms(-1) using MTS and INSTRON machines, among which tests at 0.5 ms(-1) and 5 ms(-1) were conducted for the first time. Specially designed fixtures were employed to apply combined compression-shear loads to honeycombs at angles of 15 degrees, 30 degrees and 45 degrees respectively. Three types of HEXCELL (R) r 5052-H39 aluminum honeycombs with different cell sizes and wall thicknesses were crushed in two different plane orientations (TL and TW). The deformation, crushing force, plateau stress and energy absorption of aluminumhoneycombs are presented. The effects of loading plane, loading angle and loading velocity are discussed. An empirical formula is proposed to describe the relationship between plateau stress and loading angle