Quality Study of Honeycomb Core Shaping Without Wax Stabilization

Sandwich panels utilizing honeycomb cores result in lightweight, high-strength units that are very rigid. Indeed, they give honeycomb panels the best strength-to-weight ratio of any construction type available. Conventionally, the wax is poured into the cell of the core to strengthen the structure and prevent the core from being crushed during milling. Much time and labor is required to wax, mill, and clean the cores. In this study, the process of pouring wax into the core was skipped. In other words, the cutter directly milled the core. Experiments showed that the compressive strength of the core produced without wax stabilization was only 3% lower than that of cores produced using the traditional method. In addition, the drum peel strengths of cores produced without wax stabilization were 38.4% higher than cores produced using the traditional method, in which residual wax seriously polluted the adhesive. It was also found that eliminating the wax process can reduce costs.