Investigation on the temperature dependent out-of-plane quasi-static compressive behavior of metallic honeycombs

This study investigates the effect of temperature on the out-of-plane quasi-static compressive behavior of metallic honeycombs by numerical and theoretical methods. Adopting a temperature dependent elastic-perfectly plastic constitutive relation, the temperature dependent out-of-plane quasi-static compressive mechanical performance of Al5052 honeycomb is studied with the finite element method. The results show that the plateau stress, peak stress and specific energy absorption (SEA) of Al5052 honeycomb decrease gradually with increasing temperature, while the crush load efficiency (CLE) and deformation pattern are temperature insensitive. Then, based on the numerical results in this study and super folding element theory, the temperature dependent theoretical models without fitting parameters for the plateau stress and SEA of metallic honeycombs are developed, respectively. These theoretical models are successfully verified against numerical simulations and experiments. Based on these theoretical models, the effects of parent material properties on the plateau stress and SEA at different temperatures are discussed. The results in this study provide useful guidelines in optimizing the choice of parent materials to fabricate metallic honeycombs with better energy absorption efficiency at different temperatures.