Equivalent Elastic Modulus of Asymmetrical Honeycomb.

The equivalent elastic moduli of asymmetrical hexagonal honeycomb are studied by using a theoretical approach. The deformation of honeycomb consists of two types of deformations. The first is deformation inside the unit, which is caused by bending, stretching, and shearing of cell walls and rigid rotation of the unit; the second is relative displacement between units. The equivalent elastic modulus related to a direction parallel to one cell wall of the honeycomb is determined from the relative deformation between units. In addition, a method for calculating other elastic moduli by coordinate transformation is described, and the elastic moduli for various shapes of hexagon, which are obtained by systematically altering the regular hexagon, are investigated. It is found that the maximum compliance Cyy|max and the minimum compliance Cyy|min of elastic modulus Cyy in one rotation of the (x, y) coordinate system vary as the shape of the hexagon is changed. However, Cyy|max takes a minimum and Cyy|min takes a maximum when the honeycomb cell is a regular hexagon, for which the equivalent elastic moduli are unrelated to the selected coordinate system, and are constant with C11 = C22. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]