Effects of defects on in-plane properties of periodic metal honeycombs

The effects of missing or fractured cell walls on in-plane effective elastic stiffness and initial yield strength of square and triangular cell metal honeycombs are investigated using finite element analysis. Due to the change of localized deformation mode, the in-plane properties of defected honeycombs can differ significantly from those of intact metal honeycombs, depending on cell type and stress state. First, the effect of the size of a statistical volume element of honeycomb cells with randomly removed cell walls is explored by using different numbers of cells with 5% of walls removed, subject to periodic boundary conditions. The size of a representative volume element (statistically homogeneous) is determined for each considered in-plane property. Next, the effective in-plane properties of square cell and triangular cell honeycombs are, respectively, calculated as a function of increasing number density of randomly removed cell walls. Finally, the sensitivities of axial compressive effective properties of these honeycombs to missing cell walls are compared with that of a previously analyzed hexagonal cell honeycomb. The results indicate that some in-plane properties sharply diminish with defect density, while others exhibit more gradual decay. In compression, the effective elastic stiffness and initial yield strength of triangular cell honeycombs are least sensitive to defects among those considered. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.