Nida Core honeycomb panels are widely used as fiberglass coring in boat building as well as in other industries such as RV and wind turbine construction. Here’s what you need to know about Nida Core for your DIY project. » Read More
Nida Core (also commonly spelled Nida-Core or NidaCore) is a polypropylene honeycomb panel. It is composed of many vacuum-filled, 8mm hexagonal cells just like a natural honeycomb. Read More
The cells are sealed on each side with a thin transparent film, which is then laminated to fabric, allowing lamination. NidaCore panels are available in a range of thicknesses including 3/8”, 1/2”, and 3/4” and 1”.
NidaCore is available both as the core by itself or pre-laminated with a fiberglass skin on each side. The “raw” core material must be laminated by the user. The pre-laminated NidaCore is ready to use. Each skin is composed of 18 oz. fiberglass finished with a gloss white gelcoat, so the panel is rigid and inherently strong.
Advantages of Nida Core
Compared to other coring panels, NidaCore is lightweight and rigid. The core by itself weighs less by volume even than 5 lb. Read More
PVC foam panels such as Divinycell H80. Because it is mostly vacuum-filled, NidaCore also has excellent sound-deadening properties and is a good thermal insulator. The “raw” core is also relatively inexpensive compared to other coring options.
In its prelaminated form, NidaCore is more costly than some other coring options, but that cost is offset by the fact that no additional lamination is required, saving on cloth, resin, and labor. Other lightweight panel options must be laminated for strength and water resistance before use, while prelaminated Nida-Core is ready to install.
Limitations of Nida Core
NidaCore has two primary limitations: relatively low compression strength and poor screw holding. Compressive strength is the ability to resist squashing, for example when through-bolting hardware to the deck. Read More
Higher-density coring materials like Coosa board and plywood are more resistant to crushing between a bolt and nut.
Screw holding is a term for how strong a self-tapping screw is when installed in the material. Because a prelaminated NidaCore panel is the most vacuum between the fiberglass skins, a screw has only the 1/8” fiberglass to bite into. Denser materials, on the other hand, provide purchase for the threads on the whole length of a screw.
The bottom line is that items subject to any significant force — cleats, leaning post feet, windshield frames, windlasses, bow rails, etc. — shouldn’t be mounted to a NidaCore cored panel without reinforcement.
What Are Popular Uses?
Because of its light weight and rigidity, NidaCore is a great choice for decks, hatches, hardtops, and interior and exterior walls. Read More
Just keep in mind that mounting areas for some hardware should be reinforced with a denser material.
For applications where strength is more important than weight, such as transoms and stringers, denser materials like Coosa board are a better choice.
Fabrication
Pre-laminated NidaCore is easy to work with using common woodworking tools like table saws, circular saws, jig saws, routers, and grinders. Because the skins are fiberglass, you should always wear appropriate PPE when working with NidaCore. Read More
NidaCore can be attached in a variety of ways. The gelcoated surface is compatible with a variety of adhesives including polyurethane sealants like 3M 4200 and 5200. It can also be fiberglassed to other surfaces. Just grind the gelcoat off the area that will be glassed for better adhesion.
The only special consideration to keep in mind is that the polypropylene NidaCore is made from melts at about 320˚ F. Be careful with power saws, grinders, and sanders not to melt the material.
Note that the edges of NidaCore panels are unfinished and show the exposed core. If using NidaCore for a project where the edges will be visible, such as a hatch or hardtop, you’ll need to fill the edges, and then glass and fair them.
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Nida Core panels are flat, lightweight panels with a honeycomb internal structure made from polypropylene plastic. They are available in a variety of thicknesses and are commonly used as coring when building boats with composite materials.
Aramid is a kind of strong synthetic fiber. Some honeycomb panels are made from Aramid instead of polypropylene. Aramid honeycomb is generally stronger and more resistant to compression than polypropylene honeycomb-like Nida Core; it is also much more expensive. It is commonly used in applications like race cars, aircraft, and spacecraft.
Honeycomb core is used in composite “sandwich” construction. A layer of fiber (such as fiberglass or carbon fiber cloth) and resin is laminated to each side of the core. The result is a panel that is much lighter weight than a solid fiberglass panel with similar rigidity. Honeycomb cored panels are widely used in fiberglass boats, RVs, aircraft, cars, and even buildings.
NidaCore is very lightweight. The coring material alone, without fiberglass skins, weighs about 4 lbs. per cubic foot. The weight of a panel of a given size depends on thickness. One square foot of 3/4” NidaCore, as an example, weighs about 0.3 lbs. A 4’ x 8’ sheet of 3/4” NidaCore is a little less than 10 lbs.
Pre-laminated NidaCore weighs significantly more but is still lighter than other composite panels with similar strength and rigidity. A 4’ x 8’ sheet of 3/4” pre-laminated NidaCore, for example, weighs about 36 lbs, or about 1.1 lbs. per square foot. A typical sheet of 3/4” plywood, for comparison, weighs around 70 lbs.
