Crush response of CFRP square tube filled with aluminum honeycomb

This paper aims to explore the failure mechanism and crashworthiness characteristics of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) square tubes filled with aluminum honeycomb subjected to quasi-static axial crushing. The crushing characteristics between the honeycomb-filled CFRP tubes and the bare CFRP tubes were compared. The influence of the cell width of aluminum honeycomb on the failure mechanism and crashworthiness characteristics of the filled CFRP tubes was further analyzed. Three distinct failure modes, classified as stable progressive end-crushing (I), unstable local buckling (II) and collapse in the mid-length (III), were observed during the crushing tests. By comparison, the peak load and absorbed energy of the filled tubes increased by more than 10% as compared to those of the bare CFRP tubes, ranging approximately from 12.41% to 27.22% and from 10.49% to 21.83% respectively. It has been shown that the cell width was a critical parameter affecting crashworthiness characteristics. Moreover, with the decrease in the cell width, the peak load and absorbed energy increased whilst the specific energy absorption (SEA) decreased.