Method for bonding a skin member to honeycomb core

Abstract

Described herein is a method for bonding a skin member such as metal, plastic, perforated acoustic skin, or fiberglass or graphite reinforced plastic, to a honeycomb core support structure such as lightweight hollow hexagonally shaped tubes. Such a method can be used in the construction industry for making panels and walls and similar structures, and in the aerospace industry for making airplane and satellite structures, etc. The adhesive employed is an adhesive-coated fabric material which is partially cured onto the honeycomb and cooled down, following which most of the adhesive material is removed when the coated fabric is peeled away. This leaves an optimum amount of adhesive in the most effective locations on the wall edges of the honeycomb cells where it is needed for bonding the core to the skin. The skin member is then bonded to the honeycomb by bringing the adhesive to its final cure. This method thus produces a lightweight structure, and with respect to acoustic panels a structure in which perforations in the skin are not covered or sealed. The method can be used for curved as well as flat honeycomb surfaces.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.