Evaluation of the effect of core lattice topology on the properties of sandwich panels produced by additive manufacturing

Author(s):  
JG Monteiro ◽  
M Sardinha ◽  
F Alves ◽  
AR Ribeiro ◽  
L Reis ◽  
...  

Sandwich structures are frequently used in automotive, aerospace and marine industries, as they provide adequate functional properties. The two-dimensional regular hexagonal cell shape, i.e. honeycomb is the most used core structure in sandwich panels. Recently, a new type of cellular structures composed of lattice struts has been proposed, as they combine high stiffness, strength and energy absorption with low weight. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of the lattice topology on the flexural behaviour of sandwich panels. Five lattice geometries inspired in crystalline structures were designed, namely, body-centred parallelepiped, body-centred parallelepiped with struts in z-axis, body- and face-centred parallelepiped with struts in z-axis, face-centred parallelepiped with struts in z-axis and parallelepiped simple. The relative density of all the lattices was kept constant as 0.3. Both numerical and experimental approaches were used to evaluate the flexural properties and failure behaviour of the sandwich structures under three-point bending tests. The numerical analysis was undertaken with the finite element software NX Nastran. Taking advantage of additive manufacturing technologies, material extrusion was used to produce polylactic acid samples with the configurations aforementioned. The sandwich panels are composed by a single layer formed by the lattice core and two thin plates, at the bottom and top. The three parts of the panel were manufactured all together. The simulation results indicate that, among the lattices studied, topologies body-centred parallelepiped with struts in z-axis and body- and face-centred parallelepiped with struts in z-axis exhibit higher strength, while body- and face-centred parallelepiped with struts in z-axis shows higher stiffness and higher energy absorption, attaining values that do not differ much from the ones obtained with a two-dimensional hexagonal cellular structure, with the same relative density. As a consequence, some of the geometries studied may have the potential to be considered as alternatives to conventional structures in the design of sandwich structures.

Author(s):  
Dongjie Ai ◽  
Yuansheng Cheng ◽  
Jun Liu ◽  
Jianhu Liu ◽  
Haikun Wang ◽  
...  

Sandwich panel structures, which consist of two thin faces and low relative density cores, can significantly mitigate the possibilities of panel fractures. In the present paper, numerical simulations are conducted to study the deformation and fracture modes of sandwich structures under near-field underwater blasts and contact underwater blasts. Two different core materials are employed, namely aluminum foam and PVC foam. Main focus of this paper was placed to (i) study the failure mechanisms and energy absorption characteristics of sandwich structures in typical conditions, (ii) to demonstrate the benefits of such structures compared with solid plates of equal weight, and (iii) to obtain the properties of withstanding underwater explosion for single core material sandwich panels. In addition, the effects of panel thickness configuration and core height on deformation and energy absorption of the plates were explored. Results indicated that sandwich structures showed an effective reduction in the maximum panel deflection compared with a monolithic plate of same mass. The design parameters have great impacts on the results.


2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Alavi Nia ◽  
M Kazemi

In this research, we have investigated the ballistic resistance of sandwich structures with aluminum face-sheet and graded polyurethane foam core with different densities. The effects of graded changes of core foam density and the effect of the sequence of foam layers with different densities on energy absorption and ballistic limit of sandwich structures under the impact of hemispherical nose projectiles at high speeds (160 to 300 m/s) are studied. The results of this study showed that increasing the density and thickness of the foam core leads to increase in the ballistic limit and energy absorption; also, the ballistic limit of sandwich structures with the same mass with graded foam core for three- and five-layer panels is, respectively, 10.37 and 5.57% more than single-layer foam core with the average density in case the foam layer with less density is placed in the impact side. By using the graded foam core (laminate), the core resistance is increased and the damaged zone shape is changed, and the energy absorption of back face-sheet is increased.


2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 450-465
Author(s):  
Zhilin Chen ◽  
Yu Zhang ◽  
Jun Wang ◽  
Hota GangaRao ◽  
Ruifeng Liang ◽  
...  

Abstract The composite sandwich structures with foam core and fiber-reinforced polymer skin are prone to damage under local impact. The mechanical behavior of sandwich panels (glass fiber-reinforced polymer [GFRP] skin reinforced with lattice webs and syntactic foams core) is studied under crushing load. The crushing behavior, failure modes, and energy absorption are correlated with the number of GFRP layers in facesheets and webs, fiber volume fractions of facesheets in both longitudinal and transverse directions, and density and thickness of syntactic foam. The test results revealed that increasing the number of FRP layers of lattice webs was an effective way to enhance the energy absorption of sandwich panels without remarkable increase in the peak load. Moreover, a three-dimensional finite-element (FE) model was developed to simulate the mechanical behavior of the syntactic foam sandwich panels, and the numerical results were compared with the experimental results. Then, the verified FE model was applied to conduct extensive parametric studies. Finally, based on experimental and numerical results, the optimal design of syntactic foam sandwich structures as energy absorption members was obtained. This study provides theoretical basis and design reference of a novel syntactic foam sandwich structure for applications in bridge decks, ship decks, carriages, airframes, wall panels, anticollision guard rails and bumpers, and railway sleepers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 933 ◽  
pp. 188-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Chen Guo ◽  
Gui Ping Zhao

The dynamic responses of sandwich structures with MHS(metal hollow sphere)and closed cell aluminum foams under blast loading were simulated numerically by employing the finite element software ANSYS/LS-DYNA. Both sandwich panels and sandwich spheres were modeled. Some factors that determine the blast resistance of the sandwich structures were investigated. According to the parametric studies, the sandwich structures with thin inner face sheet and thick outer face sheet have stronger blast resistance than others. Also the results show that sandwich structures with interlaced hollow spheres have a better performance than those with paratactic hollow spheres. Moreover, it's inferred that the density graded core with the biggest density as the first impact layer and the least density as the last layer has more benefits in energy absorption. The comparison between sandwich structures with metal hollow spheres and those with aluminum foams was studied experimentally and numerically and the results demonstrate that structures with aluminum foam have advantage in energy absorption but structures with MHS are stronger and can undertake more TNT.


2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Yang ◽  
Ola A Harrysson ◽  
Harvey A West II ◽  
Denis R. Cormier ◽  
Chun Park ◽  
...  

Purpose – The aim of this study is to perform a comparative study on sandwich structures with several types of three-dimensional (3D) reticulate cellular structural core designs for their low-energy impact absorption abilities using powder bed additive manufacturing methods. 3D reticulate cellular structures possess promising potentials in various applications with sandwich structure designs. One of the properties critical to the sandwich structures in applications, such as aerospace and automobile components, is the low-energy impact performance. Design/methodology/approach – Sandwich samples of various designs, including re-entrant auxetic, rhombic, hexagonal and octahedral, were designed and fabricated via selective laser sintering (SLS) process using nylon 12 as material. Low-energy drop weight test was performed to evaluate the energy absorption of various designs. Tensile coupons were also produced using the same process to provide baseline material properties. The manufacturing issues such as geometrical accuracy and anisotropy effect as well as their effects on the performance of the structures were discussed. Findings – In general, 3D reticulate cellular structures made by SLS process exhibit significantly different characteristics under low-energy drop weight impact compared to the regular extruded honeycomb sandwich panels. A hexagonal sandwich panel exhibits the largest compliance with the smallest energy absorption ability, and an octahedral sandwich panel exhibits high stiffness as well as good impact protection ability. Through a proper geometrical design, the re-entrant auxetic sandwich panels could achieve a combination of high energy absorption and low response force, making it especially attractive for low-impact protection applications. Originality/value – There has been little work on the comparative study of the energy absorption of various 3D reticulate cellular structures to date. This work demonstrates the potential of 3D reticulate cellular structures as sandwich cores for different purposes. This work also demonstrates the possibility of controlling the performance of this type of sandwich structures via geometrical and process design of the cellular cores with powder bed additive manufacturing systems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiyoshi Masuyama ◽  
Tomoaki Higo ◽  
Jong-Kook Lee ◽  
Ryohei Matsuura ◽  
Ian Jones ◽  
...  

AbstractIn contrast to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, there has been reported no specific pattern of cardiomyocyte array in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), partially because lack of alignment assessment in a three-dimensional (3D) manner. Here we have established a novel method to evaluate cardiomyocyte alignment in 3D using intravital heart imaging and demonstrated homogeneous alignment in DCM mice. Whilst cardiomyocytes of control mice changed their alignment by every layer in 3D and position twistedly even in a single layer, termed myocyte twist, cardiomyocytes of DCM mice aligned homogeneously both in two-dimensional (2D) and in 3D and lost myocyte twist. Manipulation of cultured cardiomyocyte toward homogeneously aligned increased their contractility, suggesting that homogeneous alignment in DCM mice is due to a sort of alignment remodelling as a way to compensate cardiac dysfunction. Our findings provide the first intravital evidence of cardiomyocyte alignment and will bring new insights into understanding the mechanism of heart failure.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 231-240
Author(s):  
Laura Wirths ◽  
Matthias Bleckmann ◽  
Kristin Paetzold

AbstractAdditive Manufacturing technologies are based on a layer-by-layer build-up. This offers the possibility to design complex geometries or to integrate functionalities in the part. Nevertheless, limitations given by the manufacturing process apply to the geometric design freedom. These limitations are often unknown due to a lack of knowledge of the cause-effect relationships of the process. Currently, this leads to many iterations until the final part fulfils its functionality. Particularly for small batch sizes, producing the part at the first attempt is very important. In this study, a structured approach to reduce the design iterations is presented. Therefore, the cause-effect relationships are systematically established and analysed in detail. Based on this knowledge, design guidelines can be derived. These guidelines consider process limitations and help to reduce the iterations for the final part production. In order to illustrate the approach, the spare parts production via laser powder bed fusion is used as an example.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 3888
Author(s):  
Johanna Maier ◽  
Christian Vogel ◽  
Tobias Lebelt ◽  
Vinzenz Geske ◽  
Thomas Behnisch ◽  
...  

Generative hybridization enables the efficient production of lightweight structures by combining classic manufacturing processes with additive manufacturing technologies. This type of functionalization process allows components with high geometric complexity and high mechanical properties to be produced efficiently in small series without the need for additional molds. In this study, hybrid specimens were generated by additively depositing PA6 (polyamide 6) via fused layer modeling (FLM) onto continuous woven fiber GF/PA6 (glass fiber/polyamide 6) flat preforms. Specifically, the effects of surface pre-treatment and process-induced surface interactions were investigated using optical microscopy for contact angle measurements as well as laser profilometry and thermal analytics. The bonding characteristic at the interface was evaluated via quasi-static tensile pull-off tests. Results indicate that both the bond strength and corresponding failure type vary with pre-treatment settings and process parameters during generative hybridization. It is shown that both the base substrate temperature and the FLM nozzle distance have a significant influence on the adhesive tensile strength. In particular, it can be seen that surface activation by plasma can significantly improve the specific adhesion in generative hybridization.


2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 503-518
Author(s):  
Juan Han ◽  
Lu Zhu ◽  
Hai Fang ◽  
Jian Wang ◽  
Peng Wu

Abstract This article proposed an innovative composite sandwich structure reinforced with trapezoidal latticed webs with angles of 45°, 60° and 75°. Four specimens were conducted according to quasi-static compression methods to investigate the compressive behavior of the novel composite structures. The experimental results indicated that the specimen with 45° trapezoidal latticed webs showed the most excellent energy absorption ability, which was about 2.5 times of the structures with vertical latticed webs. Compared to the traditional composite sandwich structure, the elastic displacement and ultimate load-bearing capacity of the specimen with 45° trapezoidal latticed webs were increased by 624.1 and 439.8%, respectively. Numerical analysis of the composite sandwich structures was carried out by using a nonlinear explicit finite element (FE) software ANSYS/LS-DYNA. The influence of the thickness of face sheets, lattice webs and foam density on the elastic ultimate load-bearing capacity, the elastic displacement and initial stiffness was analyzed. This innovative composite bumper device for bridge pier protection against ship collision was simulated to verify its performance. The results showed that the peak impact force of the composite anti-collision device with 45° trapezoidal latticed webs would be reduced by 17.3%, and the time duration will be prolonged by about 31.1%.


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