Experimental parametric analysis on multiple response behaviour of AA 6061 honeycomb core sandwich structure under flexural test

Sandwich structures are light weight structures with high strength to weight ratio mostly applicable in aerospace, automotive and, shipbuilding industries. In this study, the aluminium honeycomb core sandwich structure is investigated under flexural test to find the effects of honeycomb core parameters such as cell size, cell wall thickness and core height. Flexural tests such as three point and four point bend test were performed as per ASTM Standard D7250 to evaluate the flexural properties like stiffness and core shear modulus. Taguchi's design of experiment (DOE) has been used to find the effect of structural parameters of the honeycomb core. Since this structure requires the enhancement in properties and reduction in weight, so multi response analysis has been performed by using grey relational analysis. Results shows that the cell size is the most influencing factor followed by core height. Cell wall thickness shows positive effect on flexural properties, but add more weight to the structure. Finally, these findings were confirmed by finding the percentage contribution of structural parameters by Analysis of Variance.