Adhesive films for the Production of Aluminium Honeycomb Panels

A combination of adhesive film and a special production method affords a way of making aluminium honeycomb panels which offer much higher peel strengths than obtain-able by today’s standards. Studies have also shown that the peel strength is not diminished in alternating climate tests but actually even increases in some cases, with the result that aluminium honeycomb panels produced in this way are suitable for outdoor use.

Adhesive films for long-term use in composite applications

Composite applications are often exposed to extreme weathering or mechanical stress. The adhesive films specially developed for composite applications achieve greater strength on a permanent basis than a conventional adhesive system.

Minimum Product Input without abandoning Performance

The main requirement in the manufacture of aluminium honeycombs is the efficient application of adhesive to the correct spot. However, as the honeycombs have very little contact area with the skin, close attention needs to be paid to the transmission of forces from the honeycomb edge to the skin.

Until now, for the sake of convenience, the adhesive was applied to the skin and the honeycomb core was placed in the adhesive, this is also called embedding. A distinct drawback of this method is that more than 90 percent of the adhesive is in the wrong place, even if rheological tricks are used to form a meniscus on the edge of the honeycomb. The adhesive inside each honeycomb cell has no benefit whatsoever and, if anything, is somewhat disadvantageous because it increases adhesive costs and unnecessarily raises the flammable mass. In most cases, moreover, the bond strength is impaired too if the force is transmitted unproductively or wrongly. This is always problematic for aluminium honeycomb sheets which are expected to offer high standards of fire resistance, bond strength, durability, weather resistance and impact strength. Such expectations can only be met if the honeycomb edges are properly embedded in the adhesive and the adhesive itself is ductile.