Quasi-static crush behavior of aluminum honeycomb specimens under non-proportional compression-dominant combined loads

The quasi-static crush behavior of aluminum 5052-H38 honeycomb specimens under non-proportional compression-dominant combined loads is investigated by experiments. A test fixture was designed such that dominant compressive and shear loads with respect to the strongest material symmetry direction can be controlled and applied independently. Compression-dominant combined loads and pure compressive loads were applied in different sequences to induce non-proportional combined loads. The experimental results show that the normal crush and shear strengths in combined loading regions and the normal crush strengths in pure compressive loading regions of the non-proportional combined loads are quite consistent with the existing phenomenological yield criterion based on the experimental normal crush and shear strengths under proportional combined loads. The experimental results also indicate that the sequence of loading paths for the non-proportional combined loads does not affect the crush strengths when compared with those obtained under proportional combined loads. In addition, the experimental results indicate that the non-normality plastic flow behavior of honeycomb specimens under non-proportional combined loads is consistent with that under proportional combined loads. Finally, specimens crushed under non-proportional combined loads show developments of different stacking patterns of folds in different loading regions of the non-proportional combined loads. The experimental results suggest that the incremental stress–strain relation for the transition loading path within the so-called yield surface from one yield state to another may be related to the displacement increments that correspond to the change of microscopic folding mechanisms instead of the usual elastic relation according to the classical plasticity theory.