The potted repair method is used to repair which feature in a bonded honeycomb structure?

• A. A hole
• B. A crack
• C. A delamination
• D. A puncture on skin

Answer: (A)

When a bonded honeycomb panel has a through-hole, the core around that opening is damaged and the load path through the sandwich is disrupted. The potted repair fills a formed pocket around the hole with a resin potting compound (often with a plug) to recreate a solid, continuous region in the core and skin. This restores the local stiffness and ensures the surrounding materials can carry loads again, effectively reconstituting the structural integrity where material was lost. It’s the approach chosen for holes because it directly replaces the missing core material and seals the opening, rather than trying to patch a surface or repair a crack or delamination. Cracks or delaminations typically require patch or scarf repairs, and skin punctures up to a hole in the skin are addressed by methods appropriate to the surface damage, not by the potted core repair.