Examination of a lightweight Astronautical Robot Arm Using Honeycomb Core on its Cross-Core Bending and Torsional Stiffness

Abstract

A novel composite structure arm for astronautical development by using CFRP and honeycomb core is already presented. Materials used in astronautical development should be compact and lightweight in order to save the launch cost. Honeycomb structure is one of lightweight material, and already used in astronautical field mainly for large panels. Besides, Carbon-Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) is known to be a lightweight and strong material. In this study, experimental evaluation of the presented arm is carried out. As superiority in parallel core bending specific stiffness is already presented in previous studies, cross core bending and torsional specific stiffness is investigated in this study.