Sandwich honeycomb core materials are used extensively in energy absorption applications, due to their ability to sustain compressive loading while being crushed. Proper design of energy absorption devices utilizing sandwich honeycomb core materials requires knowledge of the compressive crush stress and crush stroke properties of the honeycomb core material.

The procedures contained within this standard are intended to assess the crush stress and crush stroke properties of the sandwich honeycomb core material under static compressive loading. The dynamic crush stress of the honeycomb core material may vary from that measured under static loading, depending upon factors such as honeycomb core material thickness, core material density, impact velocity, etc.

This test method provides a standard method of obtaining the compressive crush stress and crush stroke for sandwich honeycomb core material structural design properties, material specifications, research and development applications, and quality assurance.

This test method is not intended for use in crush testing of stabilized honeycomb core materials (for which the edges of the honeycomb core material are dipped in resin to resist local crushing) or sandwich specimens (for which facings are bonded to the honeycomb core material).

Factors that influence the compressive crush stress and crush stroke and shall therefore be reported include the following: honeycomb core material, methods of material fabrication, core material geometry (nominal cell size), core material density, specimen geometry, specimen preparation, specimen conditioning, environment of testing, specimen alignment, pre-crush procedure, pre-crush depth, loading procedure, and speed of testing.