The Novel Hybrid Lattice Structure Approach Fabricated by Laser Powder Bed Fusion and Mechanical Properties Comparison

Abstract

Aluminum-based cellular structures are gaining a huge traction in several applications, including lightweight aircraft, military equipment, and heat exchangers. With additive manufacturing, the fabrication of complex periodic cellular structures with any unit cell form, size, and volume fraction has become a lot easier, allowing for more investment, research, and attention from both academia and industry. The aim of the research was to assess the manufacturability and performance of AlSi10Mg periodic cellular structures generated using the laser powder bed fusion process. Re-entrant and triply periodic and minimum surface (TPMS) gyroid cells were hybridized into a single cellular structure having identical volume fraction. Because of distinct mechanical properties of TPMS and re-entrant types, these cells were selected and assembled in various patterns to study their manufacturability, deformation behavior, energy absorption, and compressive strength. This work demonstrates good geometric agreement between the manufactured hybrid lattice structures and computer-aided design models. Hybridized structures with several repeated layers of TPMS gyroid and re-entrant cells can result in superior compressive strength and energy absorption than those with only few large layers.