How effective are honeycomb plates at preventing "bend"?

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Designing a custom ultra stiff strut bar involves balancing stiffness and weight, prompting an exploration of honeycomb plates for their lightweight properties. Honeycomb plates exhibit anisotropic behavior, being strongest in the direction of the "ribbon" weave, which is crucial for controlled force transfer. The stiffness under bending is a key concern, particularly when one side is held perpendicular and force is applied tangentially. Technical data from manufacturers can clarify these properties, although some suppliers may not provide detailed information. Understanding these characteristics is essential for optimizing the design of the strut bar.
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I'm designing a custom ultra stiff strut bar for a car. Achieving extreme stiffness usually adds a lot of weight, so I am looking into ways to reduce the weight.

Honeycomb plates are extremely light, but are only stiff in certain directions. This is perfect for my application since I am transferring forces in a very controlled manner.

My question is, how stiff are honeycomb plates under bend? That is, one side being held perfectly perpendicular, and a force applied tangentially to the other end.

Also, in what direction is the honeycomb strongest?

Thanks.
 
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The manufacturers provide all the technical data you need to answer these questions, usually as the equivalent "smeared out" material properties ignoring the finite size of the cells.

For example see http://www.hexcel.com/Resources/DataSheets/Brochure-Data-Sheets/Honeycomb_Sandwich_Design_Technology.pdf

Honeycomb is anisotropic because of the way it is made, A set of flat strips are bonded together, and then pulled apart to form the cells, rather like making a Christmas decoration with paper and glue. This means the thickness is doubled where the strips are bonded. See the PDF for more.
 
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AlephZero said:
The manufacturers provide all the technical data you need to answer these questions

I order from McMaster, and they don't provide that much detail unfortunately.

AlephZero said:
For example see http://www.hexcel.com/Resources/DataSheets/Brochure-Data-Sheets/Honeycomb_Sandwich_Design_Technology.pdf

That is actually very helpful! Thanks!

After reading that, I understand that it's only strong in the L direction, which is the direction in which the honey comb "ribbon" is weaved.
 
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