Computational and experimental investigation of the compressive response of 3D printed periodic lattice sandwich structures
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Date
2025-03-04
Authors
Τσεκούρα, Νικολέτα
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Abstract
Additive manufacturing (AM) has made great progress in the last decade and is considered cutting-edge. Another name for additive manufacturing is 3D printing, which has revolutionized industrial production due to its ability to create complex geometries with high precision that were previously unattainable using traditional methods. There are many different techniques and materials for producing components that meet various industrial needs. With the rise in 3D printing and computational power, the production of lattice structures has increased significantly, since their manufacturing is only possible through this technology. Even though lattice structures have a long history in both nature (bones, honeycombs) and mechanical engineering advancements, their commercial use began now. One definition of these structures is that they are 3D frameworks composed of consecutively and repeatedly arranged interconnected cells, or they can be classified as porous materials, made of interconnected struts and nodes in a 3D space. Some reasons for their wide use are their remarkable mechanical properties, the fact that they are lightweight and strong at the same time, and also their ability to efficiently distribute loads thanks to their geometry, and them being easy to customize for different applications. They have many uses in biomedical fields, as well as structural and aerospace engineering. In this student thesis, the different categories of lattice structures are presented, and a lattice geometry is designed, and then 3D-printed using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology. Firstly, tensile tests and a modal analysis are conducted to calculate the mechanical properties of the material used. Subsequently, the lattice geometry and sandwich structures containing it are subjected to various tests, including compression and three-point bending, in order to observe their behavior under these loading conditions. Finally, a computational study is performed, where finite element analysis (FEA) is used to simulate all experiments, ensuring the validation of the material’s behavior and test results.
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Keywords
3D printing, Lattice structures, Additive manufacturing, Compression tests, Finite element analysis