Experimental Investigation and Simulation of 3d-Printed Lattice Structures

Lattice structures are currently of high interest, especially for lightweight design. They generally have better structural performance per weight than parts made of bulk material. With conventional manufacturing techniques they are difficult to produce, but with additive manufacturing (AM) fabricationisfeasible. To better understand their behaviour under various loading conditions two lattice structures in different configurations were observed. For each structure three different test specimens were designed and manufactured using selective laser sintering (SLS). To investigate the mechanical performance under large deformations the specimens were made of a thermoplastic polyurethane(TPU), which shows a hyperelastic material behaviour. Beside the experimental observations also finite element analyses (FEA) were conducted to investigate the deformation behaviour in more detail.