Performance Design of Bio-Inspired Arc-Circular Honeycombs Under In-Plane Loading

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Additive Manufacturing

Background:

• Lightweight honeycomb structures are crucial for energy absorption applications.
• Optimizing hierarchical configurations is key to enhancing mechanical performance.
• Metal additive manufacturing enables complex geometric designs for advanced materials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the mechanical properties of novel arc-circular hierarchical honeycombs.
• To compare the energy absorption capabilities of different hierarchical configurations.
• To develop a design framework for multi-stage plateau stress in honeycomb structures.

Main Methods:

• Preparation of arched honeycombs (AHs), first-order (ACH-1), and second-order (ACH-2) hierarchical configurations using metal additive manufacturing.
• Quasi-static compression testing of honeycomb specimens.
• Finite element analysis (FEA) for validation and parametric studies.

Main Results:

• All configurations exhibited multi-stage load responses.
• The ACH-2 configuration showed significantly higher compressive stress and specific energy absorption (SEA), with a 210% enhancement over AH.
• Parametric analysis revealed wall thickness influences mechanical properties, while increasing cell number had limited impact on energy absorption at constant relative density.

Conclusions:

• Arc-circular hierarchical honeycombs, particularly ACH-2, offer superior energy absorption potential.
• A validated reverse design framework for multi-stage plateau stress in ACH-2 structures was established.
• This research provides a feasible method for designing advanced honeycomb structures for impact mitigation.