Comparative Study on the Uniaxial Behaviour of Topology-Optimised and Crystal-Inspired Lattice Materials

Abstract

This work comparatively studies the uniaxial compressive performances of three types of lattice materials, namely face-centre cube (FCC), edge-centre cube (ECC), and vertex cube (VC), which are separately generated by topology optimisation and crystal inspiration. High similarities are observed between the materials designed by these two methods. The effects of design method, cell topology, and relative density on deformation mode, mechanical properties, and energy absorption are numerically investigated and also fitted by the power law. The results illustrate that both topology-optimised and crystal-inspired lattices are mainly dominated by bending deformation mode. In terms of collapse strength and elastic modulus, VC lattice is stronger than FCC and ECC lattices because its struts are arranged along the loading direction. In addition, the collapse strength and elastic modulus of the topology-optimised FCC and ECC are close to those generated by crystal inspiration at lower relative density, but the topology-optimised FCC and ECC are obviously superior at a higher relative density. Overall, all topology-generated lattices outperform the corresponding crystal-guided lattice materials with regard to the toughness and energy absorption per unit volume.

Physical–Mechanical Characteristics and Microstructure of Ti6Al7Nb Lattice Structures Manufactured by Selective Laser Melting

“…From a lattice-design point of view, the present topologies were generated by using the manual method. Manual generation means designing a lattice material by implementing beams and trusses with joints modified to create seamless transitions between unit cell elements [40]. Typical examples are simple cubic, body-centered cubic (BCC), face-centered cubic, diamond, octahedron, and rhombic dodecahedron [11][12][13][14][15]40].…”

“…Manual generation means designing a lattice material by implementing beams and trusses with joints modified to create seamless transitions between unit cell elements [40]. Typical examples are simple cubic, body-centered cubic (BCC), face-centered cubic, diamond, octahedron, and rhombic dodecahedron [11][12][13][14][15]40]. This study takes into account three different topologies of lattice structures developed in Creo Parametric (Version 5.0, PTC, Boston, MA, USA) software, where each lattice design should contain 4 strut paths.…”

Cellular Metals: Fabrication, Properties and Applications

“…The fabrication process and influencing parameters have been further studied using computational simulations. Yang et al [12] present a comparative numerical study of the uniaxial behavior of three lattice materials-face center cube, edge center cube, and vertex cube-generated using topology optimization and crystal inspiration. They provide a characterization of their deformation modes, mechanical properties, and energy absorption capabilities.…”

Dual Graded Lattice Structures: Generation Framework and Mechanical Properties Characterization

“…The TPMS are implicit surfaces with a zero mean curvature [ 19 ], for example, Schoen IWP, Schwartz D, gyroid, and Schwartz P, as shown in Figure 1 e–h. Topology-optimized unit cells (TO) are generated using a finite element method-based optimization to minimize or maximize a specific mechanical property [ 20 ]. Several TO units developed recently; some of the famous designs are face-centered cubic (FCC) and reverse FCC unit cell [ 21 ] as shown in Figure 1 j.…”