Creep-buckling of hexagonal honeycombs with plateau borders

The creep-buckling of hexagonal honeycombs with non-uniform cell-edge thickness is analyzed. Here, the non-uniform cross-section of cell edges is taken to be a plateau border and the solid making up the cell edges is assumed to follow power law creep. Theoretical expressions for describing the elastic buckling strength and the failure time for the onset of creep-buckling of hexagonal honeycombs with plateau borders are thus derived. The results indicate that the elastic buckling strength and the failure time for creep-buckling are significantly affected by the solid distribution in cell edges. Meanwhile, creep-buckling is more likely to occur when the applied compressive stress is close to the elastic buckling strength. However, creep-bending of cell edges becomes dominant if the applied compressive stress is much smaller than the elastic buckling strength. The transition from creep-buckling to creep-bending for hexagonal honeycombs with plateau borders depends on their relative density, the solid distribution in cell edges and the creep parameters of solid cell edges.