Mechanical performance of honeycomb sandwich structures built by FDM printing technique

Honey Comb Sandwich Structures (HCSS) have numerous applications in aerospace, automobile, and satellite industry because of their properties like high strength to weight ratio, stiffness and impact strength. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a process which, through its flexibility, simple processing, short manufacturing time, competitive prices and freedom of design, has an ability to enhance the functionality of HCSS. This paper investigates the mechanical behavior (i.e. flexural, edgewise compression and Interfacial bond strength) of FDM-built HCSS. The influence of face/core material was examined by manufacturing four types of specimens namely ABS core with Composite (PLA + 15% carbon fibers) face sheets, ABS core with PLA face sheets, TPU core with composite face sheets and TPU core with PLA face sheets. To measure the effect of face sheets geometry, raster layup was varied at 0°/90° and 45°/−45°. The mechanical characterization revealed that an optimum combination of materials is ABS core with composite face sheets having raster layup of 0°/90°. This study indicates that HCSS with complex lamination schemes and adequate mechanical properties could be manufactured using FDM which may widen the applications of FDM on an industrial scale.