3D printed octet plate-lattices for tunable energy absorption

Tunable energy absorption achieved through grading of lattice structures shows high potential to be used in lightweight cellular cores for energy absorbing structures. This study investigates structurally graded and multi-material lattices consisting of plate-based octet unit cells, under quasi-static compression, to assess their energy absorption ability. Variations in the structure and material compositions of the plate -lattice structures are achieved through changing the plate thickness and through changing the filament material along the lattice in the direction of applied compressive force. The compressive stress-strain behavior reveals a near 10% increase of specific energy absorption (SEA) in the plate thickness graded designs at higher strain compared to the baseline octet lattices. The multi-material arrangements signif-icantly modified onset location of the structure collapse. Finite element models of the structures were developed, and good agreements with experimental results were observed. Effects of varying each of the unit cell geometric parameters were analyzed, and the high sensitivity to the plate inclination angle, which resulted in greater changes to the maximum stress values and control of the overall SEA, was iden-tified. The results demonstrate the capacity to adapt the octet lattice structure design through additive manufacturing to better suit the expected load and application.Crown Copyright CO 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

Tunable energy absorption achieved through grading of lattice structures has high potential for lightweight cellular cores in energy absorbing structures. This study investigates structurally graded and multi-material lattices consisting of plate-based octet unit cells, showing a near 10% increase in specific energy absorption in the plate thickness graded designs compared to baseline octet lattices. Finite element models were developed and showed good agreement with experimental results. The results demonstrate the capacity to adapt the octet lattice structure design through additive manufacturing to better suit the expected load and application.