scholarly journals An investigation into reinforced and functionally graded lattice structures

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Maskery ◽  
Alexandra Hussey ◽  
Ajit Panesar ◽  
Adedeji Aremu ◽  
Christopher Tuck ◽  
...  

Lattice structures are regarded as excellent candidates for use in lightweight energy-absorbing applications, such as crash protection. In this paper we investigate the crushing behaviour, mechanical properties and energy absorption of lattices made by an additive manufacturing process. Two types of lattice were examined: body-centred-cubic (BCC) and a reinforced variant called BCC z. The lattices were subject to compressive loads in two orthogonal directions, allowing an assessment of their mechanical anisotropy to be made. We also examined functionally graded versions of these lattices, which featured a density gradient along one direction. The graded structures exhibited distinct crushing behaviour, with a sequential collapse of cellular layers preceding full densification. For the BCC z lattice, the graded structures were able to absorb around 114% more energy per unit volume than their non-graded counterparts before full densification, 1371 ± 9 kJ/m3 versus 640 ± 10 kJ/m3. This highlights the strong potential for functionally graded lattices to be used in energy-absorbing applications. Finally, we determined several of the Gibson–Ashby coefficients relating the mechanical properties of lattice structures to their density; these are crucial in establishing the constitutive models required for effective lattice design. These results improve the current understanding of additively manufactured lattices and will enable the design of sophisticated, functional, lightweight components in the future.

Author(s):  
Mahshid Mahbod ◽  
Masoud Asgari ◽  
Christian Mittelstedt

In this paper, the elastic–plastic mechanical properties of regular and functionally graded additively manufactured porous structures made by a double pyramid dodecahedron unit cell are investigated. The elastic moduli and also energy absorption are evaluated via finite element analysis. Experimental compression tests are performed which demonstrated the accuracy of numerical simulations. Next, single and multi-objective optimizations are performed in order to propose optimized structural designs. Surrogated models are developed for both elastic and plastic mechanical properties. The results show that elastic moduli and the plastic behavior of the lattice structures are considerably affected by the cell geometry and relative density of layers. Consequently, the optimization leads to a significantly better performance of both regular and functionally graded porous structures. The optimization of regular lattice structures leads to great improvement in both elastic and plastic properties. Specific energy absorption, maximum stress, and the elastic moduli in x- and y-directions are improved by 24%, 79%, 56%, and 9%, respectively, compared to the base model. In addition, in the functionally graded optimized models, specific energy absorption and normalized maximum stress are improved by 64% and 56%, respectively, in comparison with the base models.


2020 ◽  
Vol 846 ◽  
pp. 110-116
Author(s):  
Akash Mukhopadhyay ◽  
Probir Saha

Additive Friction Stir (AFS) has the potential for extensive future application in metal based additive manufacturing. Powder based AFS is specifically useful for fabricating functionally graded structures. But, the consolidation of powder inside the hollow tool used in this operation hinders the powder based AFS process. This problem could be resolved by Additive Friction Stir Processing (AFSP) while maintaining the key advantages of AFS. A 3D deposit structure of height 5 mm and width 64 mm was made from Al6061 alloy powder by AFSP. Mechanical properties like ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and micro-hardness of the deposit were evaluated in both longitudinal and transverse directions. The ultimate tensile strength and micro-hardness of the deposit were comparable to Al6061-O and there was a significant increment in tensile yield strength. Also, the isotropic nature of the deposit could be inferred from similar mechanical properties in the longitudinal and transverse direction. Dimple ruptures seen in fractographic analysis gave evidence to the ductile nature of the deposit.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1528
Author(s):  
Khaled G. Mostafa ◽  
Guilherme A. Momesso ◽  
Xiuhui Li ◽  
David S. Nobes ◽  
Ahmed J. Qureshi

Additive manufacturing (AM) enables the production of complex structured parts with tailored properties. Instead of manufacturing parts as fully solid, they can be infilled with lattice structures to optimize mechanical, thermal, and other functional properties. A lattice structure is formed by the repetition of a particular unit cell based on a defined pattern. The unit cell’s geometry, relative density, and size dictate the lattice structure’s properties. Where certain domains of the part require denser infill compared to other domains, the functionally graded lattice structure allows for further part optimization. This manuscript consists of two main sections. In the first section, we discussed the dual graded lattice structure (DGLS) generation framework. This framework can grade both the size and the relative density or porosity of standard and custom unit cells simultaneously as a function of the structure spatial coordinates. Popular benchmark parts from different fields were used to test the framework’s efficiency against different unit cell types and grading equations. In the second part, we investigated the effect of lattice structure dual grading on mechanical properties. It was found that combining both relative density and size grading fine-tunes the compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, absorbed energy, and fracture behavior of the lattice structure.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3.17) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
N A. Rosli ◽  
R Hasan ◽  
W H. Ng ◽  
M K. Baharudin ◽  
M R. Alkahari

Lattice structures possess exceptional mechanical strength resulting in highly efficient load supporting systems. The lattice structure has been receiving interest in a variety of application areas and industries such as automotive, shipping and aeronautic. The metallic or polymer micro lattice structure can be categorized as lightweight and energy-absorbing structure. These characteristics are best applied to transportation part where the lightweight structure will help reduce its overall weight, thus increase the operational time since energy and cost consumption is a big concern in the industry these days. The aim of this study is to investigate relationship between process-properties and mechanical performance of polymer lattice structure. The lattice structure was designed by using SolidWorks software and fabricated using CubePro 3D printing machine. Compression test was performed by Instron 5585 universal testing machine to analyse the strength of the lattice structure. It was found that lattice structure manufactured with the setting of solid print strength, honeycomb print pattern, 70 µm layer thickness and strut diameter of 2.4 mm possesses the optimum mechanical property. 


Materials ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 2411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miao Zhao ◽  
Fei Liu ◽  
Guang Fu ◽  
David Zhang ◽  
Tao Zhang ◽  
...  

The triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) method is a novel approach for lattice design in a range of fields, such as impact protection and structural lightweighting. In this paper, we used the TPMS formula to rapidly and accurately generate the most common lattice structure, named the body centered cubic (BCC) structure, with certain volume fractions. TPMS-based and computer aided design (CAD) based BCC lattice structures with volume fractions in the range of 10–30% were fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) technology with Ti–6Al–4V and subjected to compressive tests. The results demonstrated that local geometric features changed the volume and stress distributions, revealing that the TPMS-based samples were superior to the CAD-based ones, with elastic modulus, yield strength and compression strength increasing in the ranges of 18.9–42.2%, 19.2–29.5%, and 2–36.6%, respectively. The failure mechanism of the TPMS-based samples with a high volume fraction changed to brittle failure observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), as their struts were more affected by the axial force and fractured on struts. It was also found that the TPMS-based samples have a favorable capacity to absorb energy, particularly with a 30% volume fraction, the energy absorbed up to 50% strain was approximately three times higher than that of the CAD-based sample with an equal volume fraction. Furthermore, the theoretic Gibson–Ashby mode was established in order to predict and design the mechanical properties of the lattice structures. In summary, these results can be used to rapidly create BCC lattice structures with superior compressive properties for engineering applications.


Author(s):  
Mohsen Teimouri ◽  
Masoud Asgari

A topology optimization (TO) method is used to develop new and efficient unit cells to be used in additively manufactured porous lattice structures. Two types of unit cells including solid and thin-walled shell-type ones are introduced for generating the desired regular and functionally graded (FG) lattice structures. To evaluate structural stiffness and crushing behavior of the proposed lattice structures, their mechanical properties, and energy absorption parameters have been calculated through implementing finite element (FE) simulations on them. To validate the simulations, two samples were fabricated by a stereolithography (SLA) machine. Besides, the effects of geometrical parameters and optimizing scheme of the unit cells on the mechanical properties of the proposed structures are studied. Consequently, energy absorption parameters have been calculated and compared for both the solid and thin-walled lattice structures to evaluate their ability in energy absorption. It was found in general that for the solid lattice structures, the mechanical properties, and the crushing parameters are directly affected by porosity though in shell-type ones superior mechanical properties could be achieved even for a smaller proportion of material usage.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (16) ◽  
pp. 4410
Author(s):  
Zhou Wen ◽  
Ming Li

Bionic design is considered a promising approach to improve the performance of lattice structures. In this work, bamboo-inspired cubic and honeycomb lattice structures with graded strut diameters were designed and manufactured by 3D printing. Uniform lattice structures were also designed and fabricated for comparison. Quasi-static compression tests were conducted on lattice structures, and the effects of the unit cell and structure on the mechanical properties, energy absorption and deformation mode were investigated. Results indicated that the new bionic bamboo structure showed similar mechanical properties and energy absorption capacity to the honeycomb structure but performed better than the cubic structure. Compared with the uniform lattice structures, the functionally graded lattice structures showed better performance in terms of initial peak strength, compressive modulus and energy absorption.


2011 ◽  
Vol 1304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Farias ◽  
Patrick C. Breysse ◽  
Chai-Ling Chien ◽  
Robert C. Cammarata

AbstractA novel electrochemical deposition method for manufacturing functionally graded, oxide-dispersion strengthened metal matrix nanocomposites will be presented. Using a rotating disk electrode and depositing from an electrolyte containing a suspension of oxide nanoparticles, metal-ceramic nanocomposites have been produced. This method leads to precise control over the volume fraction of the oxide in the nanocomposite and allows for the manufacturing of compositionally uniform, periodically layered, or functionally graded structures. In the higher order structures the composition variation can be finely tuned with nanometer resolution, and the characteristic microstructural length scale (e.g., individual layer thickness) can range from microns up to millimeters. Using indentation methods, the nanocomposites are shown to display enhanced and tunable mechanical properties.


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