Multi-material additive manufacturing with lightweight closed-cell foam-filled lattice structures for enhanced mechanical and functional properties
Description
Multi-material additive manufacturing of closed-cell foam-filled lattice structures is done using a hybrid FFF and foam-filling system. The data shows the compressive behaviour of foam-filled lattices for different compression levels and is compared with empty and equivalent weight lattices by varying unit cell size. Quasi-static compression testing is done at a strain rate of 5mm/min to acquire the hysteresis behaviour of the lattice structures. This cyclic testing is done for 21 cycles to obtain a stable compression cycle. 1st and 21st cycles have been taken to evaluate stiffness, specific energy dissipation and specific damping capacity of the designed lattices. The stiffness is evaluated by taking the slope of the best-fitted line at the start of the compression cycle. Specific energy dissipation is calculated by dividing hysteresis area over the individual weight of each of the designed lattices. Specific damping capacity is calculated by dividing the hysteresis area over the area under the loading curve. All three properties were found to be enhanced with foam filling.