Influence of Honeycomb Filler Geometry on Formation of Shrinkage Cavities of Carrying Layers of Three-Layer Composite Panels

An actual trend in the field of development and manufacturing of three-layer composite panels for spacecraft solar arrays is considered. The influence of the honeycomb opening angle, honeycomb foil thickness on the value of continual shrinkage cavities of the carbon plastic panel carrying layers and the total deflection of the carrying layers for case of balanced and unbalanced reinforcement schemes is studied theoretically. The value of carrying layer shrinkage cavities is shown to depend on temperature in the process of glueing the honeycomb filler to the carrying layers. In its turn, mass of panels is determined by both honeycomb geometric parameters and values of the continual shrinkage cavities. The theoretical results have been verified in testing the solar array three-layer panel prototypes, manufactured at the Rocket and Space Corporation "Energia" named after S.P. Korolev, and demonstrated close compliance with experimental data.