Lightweight High Strength Stainless Steel Honeycomb Core With Corrosion

Product Specification

Lightweight High Strength Stainless Steel Honeycomb Core With Corrosion Resistance And Fireproof Performance For Aerospace Sandwich Panels And Aircraft Flooring

The Lightweight High-Strength Stainless Steel Honeycomb Core is a precision-engineered hexagonal cellular core material fabricated from ultra-thin stainless steel foils (grades 304, 304L, 316, and 316L). When bonded between facing materials—such as stainless steel, titanium, carbon fiber, or aluminum skins—it forms a composite sandwich panel that delivers exceptional structural performance at a fraction of the weight of solid metal constructions.

This core material is specifically designed for demanding aerospace applications including aircraft flooring, interior panels, bulkheads, engine nacelles, and structural components where weight reduction is critical without compromising strength, fire safety, or corrosion resistance. The hexagonal geometry—nature’s most efficient structural shape—provides maximum strength with minimum material usage.

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Key Features & Benefits

Feature Benefit

Lightweight High Strength Up to 70% lighter than solid stainless steel sheet while maintaining superior compressive and shear strength
Corrosion Resistance 304/316 stainless steel alloys provide excellent resistance to rust, moisture, and chemical corrosion—ideal for marine, offshore, and humid environments
Fireproof Performance Non-combustible material; does not burn, melt, or emit toxic fumes. Complies with FAR 25.853 and Appendix F Part I flammability requirements
High Stiffness-to-Weight Ratio Sandwich panel configuration delivers exceptional bending and in-plane extensional rigidity
Thermal & Acoustic Insulation Inherent air-pocket structure provides excellent thermal and acoustic dampening properties
Dimensional Stability Maintains mechanical properties under extreme heat and thermal cycling
Fungi & Moisture Resistance Resists fungal growth and moisture penetration—critical for aircraft interior applications

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Key Process Advantages:

· Spot welding technology ensures superior knot strength compared to adhesive-only bonding
· Laser welding available for high-temperature applications where adhesive breakdown is a concern
· Precision expansion systems provide uniform density and consistent cell geometry

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Applications

Primary Aerospace Applications

Application Description
Aircraft Flooring Passenger compartment floors, cargo flooring, high-traffic aisle panels
Interior Panels Bulkheads, partitions, galleys, lavatories, shelving
Engine Nacelles High-temperature structural components
Secondary Load-Bearing Structural components requiring weight optimization

Additional Industry Applications

· Rail Transit: High-speed train floors, interior panels, doors
· Marine & Offshore: Ship partitions, bulkheads, deck structures
· Architectural Facades: Curtain walls, cladding systems, elevator interiors
· Defense: Armored vehicles, ballistic panels
· Industrial: Heat shields, filtration systems, EMI/RFI shielding

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Specifications

Properties

Welded honeycomb core, no matter what material is, such as aluminum, stainless steel, steel, titanium etc, possesses better mechanical properties against regularly produced glued honeycomb core. So it performs significantly better again the common honeycomb bonded by adhesive on strength, modulus, corrosion resistance, dimensional stability etc. However, generally, these critical performance variables should be evaluated: material, airflow and attenuation.

1. Material Composition

Stainless steel grade should be considered according to the real application. Custom materials other than stainless steel are available upon request. Here are the parameters need to be evaluated:

Durability

Material type and grade is the first aspect to be evaluated then plating, discussed in depth later, can improve durability.

Weight

Material, structure and thickness of the material can affect the total part weight.

2. Corrosion resistance

Typically brass and stainless steel should be used in slashing environments. Plating or nonconductive surface coatings can improve corrosion resistance for all honeycomb types.

3. Shielding Performance

Different honeycomb core material offerings have different electrical performance, due to both inherent base material properties as well as the differing manufacturing processes used during honeycomb forming. Therefore, different EMI shielding performance may be realized. Shielding performance for different materials is ranked as brass, aluminum, steel and stainless steel. Plating can improve honeycomb shielding.

Specific attenuation requirements can be met through either plated or unplated alloys. Plating adds cost to the final product vent. Plating process for improving shielding is ranked as nickel, tin, tin-lead and zinc.

4. Airflow & Attenuation

Airflow and attenuation are inversely proportional. Infinitely large honeycomb cells result in infinitely small attenuation (and vice versa). Typically, as a design baseline, airflow performance requirements are calculated to meet thermal performance needs for the assembly that the vent is to be installed onto. Once airflow is determined, attenuation and other requirements can be evaluated. Standard cell sizes for honeycomb are 1/16", 1/8" and 1/4", with 1/8" being most common. Standard thicknesses are 1/4," 1/2" and 1," with 1/4" being most common.