The main purpose of this research is to design, manufacture and test the honeycomb structures with wavy walls. The honeycomb structure with wavy walls has been inspired by the microstructure of a woodpecker’s beak. Besides, the effect of some geometrical properties on the flexural behavior of the honeycomb structures with wavy and straight walls is explored.
These structures were made of polylactic acid using additive manufacturing technology. Besides, the effect of two important variables, i.e. wall thickness and curvature radius, on the flexural properties of honeycomb structures with straight or wavy walls was delved into. To explore the effect of the wall thickness on the flexural properties of the honeycomb structure, three thicknesses of 1, 1.5 and 2 mm were considered. In addition to the flat honeycomb structures, the samples were printed with four different curvature radii, i.e. 100, 200, 300 and 400 mm. Moreover, possible arrangements (arch downward or upward) were respected to evaluate its impact on the flexural behavior of the honeycomb structures.
The results indicate that the load capacity of honeycomb structures can be improved by changing its topology from flat to curved form. It was also observed that the curved honeycombs absorbed higher amounts of energy relative to the flat samples for any wall thickness. Some formulations were derived to predict the load capacity of the straight or wavy walls honeycomb structures with arbitrary curvature radius and cell wall thickness. At the end, a finite element analysis was also performed to use the wavy walls honeycombs in the case of practical applications, i.e. a pneumatic tire.
To the best knowledge of the authors, for the first time, the performance of curved honeycomb structures under flexural loading is investigated in this study. The role of wavy walls in the flexural response of honeycomb structures with different wall thicknesses are also presented in this research.
