LASER POWDER BED FUSION OF MULTILAYER CORRUGATED SANDWICH STRUCTURES: MECHANICAL PROPERTIES AND FAILURE MECHANISMS UNDER BENDING LOADINGS

The single and multilayer corrugated sandwich structures (number of layers is 1-4) are designed and manufactured by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). The mechanical properties and failure mechanisms of the as-fabricated structures subjected to quasistatic three-point bending were investigated theoretically, experimentally and numerically. Results demonstrate that structures fabricated by LPBF with the optimal processing parameters show good printability and high quality. The failure mode transitions from overall structural failure to local damage as the number of layers increases. As the number of layers increased from 2 to 4, the bending load of specimens increased by 70.2%, 17.4%, and 10.9%, and the effective deflection increased by 54.3%, 9.7%, and 2.4%, respectively. The multilayer corrugated sandwich structures (MCSS) show favorable bending performance with lower structural density, and the appropriate increase in the number of layers is beneficial to improve the structural performance. These findings could facilitate the applications of MCSS in design of parts for bending beams or plates.

Automated summary

The single and multilayer corrugated sandwich structures were designed and manufactured using laser powder bed fusion technology. The mechanical properties and failure mechanisms of these structures under three-point bending were investigated. The results showed that structures fabricated with optimal processing parameters exhibited good printability and high quality. As the number of layers increased, the failure mode transitioned from overall structural failure to local damage. Additionally, increasing the number of layers had a positive effect on improving the structural performance.