Design of General Lattice Structures for Lightweight and Compliance Applications
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Abstract
The primary goal is to design parts with lattice mesostructure and demonstrate that they have
better structural and/or compliance performance, per weight, than parts with bulk material,
foams, or other mesostructured approaches. Mesostructure refers to features within a part that
have sizes between micro and macro-scales, for example, small truss structures, honeycombs,
and foams. The versatility of additive manufacturing allows for the fabrication of these complex
unit cell lattice structures which can be used as building blocks for macro-scale geometries. A
method and software system have been developed to synthesize lattice mesostructure parts and
compliant mechanisms in 2D and 3D. Underlying the synthesis method is a new analytical
model of unit lattices, used to compose larger structures. Axial, bending, shearing, and torsion
effects are included in the analysis for each strut in the lattice structure which is then related to
the mesostructure level (unit cell). A unit lattice finite element analysis method allowing nonlinear
deformation is employed to analyze a unit cell comprised of n[3] unit structures for their
stiffness and displacement compared to their relative density under loading. Aerospace and
biomedical applications are demonstrated.
Sponsor
National Science Foundation (Grant #DMI-0522382)
Date
2006-07
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