Additively Manufactured Lattice-Based Structures for Aeronautical Applications

Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies are widely spreading into multiple engineering sectors thanks to their flexibility to create complex geometries with virtual no material waste. AM technologies capabilities can be fully exploited when working with periodic lattices, creating topology-optimized structures through different cell types with different dimensions and volume fractions. Several factors (i.e., process parameters, quality and type of raw materials) can modify the mechanical properties of printed components and can be exploited to selectively create functionally graded materials or conventional laminated hybrid materials structures. This paper analyses and compares the mechanical properties of different additively manufactured lattice BCC structures through experimental and numerical means. At first, the manufacturing procedure followed by experimental tests is presented. The retrieved mechanical properties are then used as a benchmark for the numerical Finite Element Analyses and compared with analytical models available in the literature. The numerical simulation campaign includes the comparison of a full 3D model and a 1D/2D beam/shell formulation model. The research findings demonstrate a good correlation between the experimental tests and the numerical simulation results, indicating the potential for the proposed methodologies to be broadly implemented within various domains of structures and materials.