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Compressive behavior and energy absorption of polymeric lattice structures made by additive manufacturing

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Abstract

Lattice structures have numerous outstanding characteristics, such as light weight, high strength, excellent shock resistance, and highly efficient heat dissipation. In this work, by combining experimental and numerical methods, we investigate the compressive behavior and energy absorption of lattices made through the stereolithography apparatus process. Four types of lattice structures are considered: (i) Uniform body-centered-cubic (U-BCC); (ii) graded body-centered-cubic (G-BCC); (iii) uniform body-centered-cubic with z-axis reinforcement (U-BCCz); and (iv) graded body-centered-cubic with z-axis reinforcement (G-BCCz). We conduct compressive tests on these four lattices and numerically simulate the compression process through the finite element method. Analysis results show that BCCz has higher modulus and strength than BCC. In addition, uniform lattices show better energy absorption capabilities at small compression distances, while graded lattices absorb more energy at large compression distances. The good correlation between the simulation results and the experimental phenomena demonstrates the validity and accuracy of the present investigation method.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFB-1102800) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11872310 and 5171101743).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State IJR Center of Aerospace Design and Additive Manufacturing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Sheng Wang, Jun Wang, Yingjie Xu, Weihong Zhang & Jihong Zhu

  2. Intelligent Materials and Structures, Unmanned System Research Institute, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Jun Wang

  3. Shaanxi Engineering Laboratory of Aerospace Structure Design and Application, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, 710072, China

    Yingjie Xu

Authors
  1. Sheng Wang
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  2. Jun Wang
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  3. Yingjie Xu
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  4. Weihong Zhang
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  5. Jihong Zhu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jun Wang or Yingjie Xu.

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Wang, S., Wang, J., Xu, Y. et al. Compressive behavior and energy absorption of polymeric lattice structures made by additive manufacturing. Front. Mech. Eng. 15, 319–327 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-019-0549-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-019-0549-7

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