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How to bond aluminium honeycomb

How to bond aluminium honeycomb

How to bond aluminium honeycomb

(OP)
I have a job coming up that requires bonding flat fiberglass sheets to Al. honeycomb.  I was curious if there were any special preparations I should take with the Al. to insure a strong bond.

Thanks.

RE: How to bond aluminium honeycomb

Yes, you need to clean and activate the surface.  Check with companies that specialize in metal pretreatment and adhesives (like Henkel, 3M, etc.).

Regards,

Cory

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RE: How to bond aluminium honeycomb

See Mil-Hdbk-23 chapter 14.

Recommend Vapor Degrease.  

Wes C.
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RE: How to bond aluminium honeycomb

I agree with wes616 that vapor degreasing is the best way to clean dirty core but if the core is kept clean it is ready to bond to straight from the vendor.  It is extremely rare for a sandwich structure bond to fail as a result of the core pullng out of the adhesive.  

What is most important to good bonding is to make sure that the adhesive forms good fillets against the core walls and does not run down the cell walls or fail to flow enough to  form the filets.  

Serious contamination can affect fillet formation but clean core does not require degreasing, or any type of surface prep like PAA or FPL, to bond well.
 

RE: How to bond aluminium honeycomb

I am not an expert on core, but I believe that spudpeeler is correct. Most core is pretreated by the manufacturer for bonding as bonding is done to make the core itself. To get good reliable adhesive bonds to aluminum it does need proper surface prep.

RE: How to bond aluminium honeycomb

What is not clear in the original posting are:

1.  Fiberglass facesheets - Wet Layup, prepreg or purchased?
2.  Core - Aluminum:  What thickness, cell size, and foil size?
3.  Bonding - Film adhesive or thickened epoxy?
4.  Shape - Flat panel or curved within a tool?
5.  Pressure - Vacuum bag or weights?

Without the clarity of the part and the untented process, little help can be offered.  

RE: How to bond aluminium honeycomb

I've used FM300 on carbonfiber/epoxy facesheets to hexcel aluminum honeycomb.   

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