Hi guys,
New in this forum. Great to see so many solutions and help provided by the members here.
I am looking to replace aluminium honeycomb with foam as a core material in the marine environment. There are some advantages listed below but maybe you guys can help with more detailed comparisons in terms of the technical differences between the 2 core materials. Feel free to add in the advantages or disadvantages below. Cheers.
Advantages of the foam panels are as follows.
• Lightweight - comparable weight to aluminium honeycomb.
• Best cost to performance ratio, >200% saving compared to similar aluminium honeycomb panels.
• Specific compression strength of the foam core was 72% higher than the compression strength of the aluminium core
• No potential corrosion problems in a salt-water environment like aluminium honeycomb
• Specific \ multi-layered density layup for individual requirements
• Greater thermal and acoustic insulation compared to aluminum honeycomb
• Can be processed into flat, curved or even compound shapes. Varying thickness within a panel can be achieved with a custom build.
• Good screw retention for higher densities
Disdvantages of the foam panels are as follows.
• Lower flash point as compared to aluminium honeycomb(~600°C) versus foam (~200°C)
• Lower tensile strength per weight ratio