Legacy honeycomb structures based on non-metallic or glued aluminum honeycomb having bonded skins date from development of the B-52 in the 1950’s. These composites sandwich structures in service are subject to corrosion, moisture, disbonds, delaminations, micro-cracking and they generally exhibit low impact damage tolerance and weight issues.

Titanium honeycomb bonded with carbon fiber face sheets addresses and eliminates these service issues. The titanium core /carbon fiber sandwich panels have been tested and demonstrate that this type of structure can reduce/eliminate issues with moisture, fluid intrusion, issues with thermal expansion and corrosion while maintaining a significant weight and damage tolerance advantage over other structures. Titanium core material has proven its high working temperature (3500 – 6000 F), excellent shear properties, corrosion resistance and weight savings.

The titanium core/carbon fiber panels have demonstrated a 20% reduced structural weight and 30% reduced life cycle cost when compared to legacy honeycomb structures. The reduced structural weight is due to the inherent stability and stiffness of the titanium core /carbon fiber panels, allowing for reduction in major part counts such as brackets, clips, fasteners etc. Reduced life cycle costs are achieved by reduction in repairs, part count, maintenance, tooling and weight savings.

Graphite / Titanium Honeycomb Flight Surface Skin Panel

Titanium Honeycomb Shear Strength Advantage over Nomex Honeycomb Chart (pdf file)

Titanium Honeycomb Shear Strength Advantage over Aluminum Honeycomb Chart (pdf file)

Titanium Honeycomb Properties Database (document temporarily not available - call for information)

U.S. Government issued grant for Titanium Honeycomb Core to Benecor

In 2006, the U.S. Government issued a grant to Benecor, Inc. for the development of a materials mechanical properties database for titanium honeycomb core alloys that would be useful to the aerospace industry. Phase 1 of the database was to perform shear, compression and density tests per pertinent ASTM standards for the titanium core. This phase is almost complete and available data is on our website. We are starting Phase 2 of the database for the fabrication of sandwich panels with carbon fiber facesheets and performing beam shear and tension testing. This database of mechanical properties for the titanium honeycomb and carbon fiber sandwich panels will provide aerospace engineers that ability to utilize titanium honeycomb core in their aircraft design. The database has been constructed using a minimum of five batches and five specimens per batch, per configuration. Three core thickness configurations were tested: 0.25” , 0.50” and 0.625”. Additional configurations will be added to the database when the statistical methods have been completed. This depth of testing gives greater confidence to use the results, taking smaller “knockdowns” in the development of allowables.