Compressive Strength and Reliability Model of Lattice Structure Based on Continuous Failure System

Abstract

Herein, the compressive strength and reliability of a prime cubic (PC) lattice structure are studied. The PC lattice structure is treated as a 3D consecutive k‐out‐of‐n(F) system to study the compressive strength and the reliability of lattice structures. To do this, a reliability analysis model for compressive strength is proposed to predict the strength and dispersion of the whole structure based on the strength and dispersion of PC unit cells. Compressive strength tests on four kinds of PC lattice structures printed by selective laser melting (SLM) process have been accomplished and analyzed. The main failure modes of PC lattice structures have been analyzed afterward to simplify the strength model. Specifically, the unit cell compressive strength of lattice structures can be calculated by the finite element method (FEM) and can use this to calculate the compressive strength of the whole lattice structure. The predicted results are in good agreement with the experimental results, which shows the rationality of the model. The results indicate that as the diameter of the strut increases, the strength dispersion of the lattice structure also increases. This model offers an approach for studying the reliability of lattice structures.