Comparison of Mechanical Properties of 3D-printed PLA+ Lattice Infills at Different Build Orientation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.38032/scse.2025.3.142Keywords:
3D Printing, Lattice Structure, Compression Strength, Energy AbsorptionAbstract
Additive manufacturing (AM) can ensure the fabrication of complex structures as well as replace conventional parts for extensive modification and cheaper alternatives. Although the mechanical behaviors of different lattice structures have been studied extensively, the corresponding mechanical performances of integrated-manufactured structures with complex infills should be systematically investigated as the usage of 3D-printed parts replacing metals for strength applications can be seen more than ever. The main objective of this study was to investigate how printing factors like infill lattice structure and printing orientation affects the mechanical characteristics of printed samples. Samples were produced via an FDM 3D printer with similar conditions for each case. Kelvin and Octet lattice structures were compared on both horizontal and vertical printed orientations. The test was conducted on a specific geometry, 60mm cubic infill area with top and bottom wall and open sides. The comparison was done based on strength-to-weight characteristics of the samples with fixed weights for all cases. Compression tests using a universal testing machine (UTM) were done on the printed samples. The results of this study demonstrate that infill lattice structure and orientation significantly affect the compression strength of the PLA+ printed samples. The result shows that the lattice structure with unit cell of Octet lattice can withstand higher loads before failure, and the Kelvin lattice structure shows more ductile properties. It can also be seen that the horizontal printing orientation results in superior mechanical properties subjected to top loads than vertical orientation of printing. The research findings are helpful in understanding greater mechanical and physical characteristics that would undoubtedly assist designers and manufacturers worldwide as the FDM 3D printer becomes increasingly crucial in manufacturing engineering parts.
Downloads
Downloads
Downloads
References
[1] C. Jiang and G.-F. Zhao, “A Preliminary Study of 3D Printing on Rock Mechanics,” Rock Mech. Rock Eng., vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 1041–1050, May 2015.
[2] K. Prashantha and F. Roger, “Multifunctional properties of 3D printed poly(lactic acid)/graphene nanocomposites by fused deposition modeling,” J. Macromol. Sci. Part A, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 24–29, Jan. 2017.
[3] D. Hua et al., “3D printing of shape changing composites for constructing flexible paper-based photothermal bilayer actuators,” J. Mater. Chem. C, vol. 6, no. 8, pp. 2123–2131, Feb. 2018.
[4] E. H. Tümer and H. Y. Erbil, “Extrusion-Based 3D Printing Applications of PLA Composites: A Review,” Coatings, vol. 11, no. 4, Art. no. 4, Apr. 2021.
[5] D. S. Nguyen and F. Vignat, “A method to generate lattice structure for Additive Manufacturing,” in 2016 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM), Dec. 2016, pp. 966–970.
[6] D. Li, J. Ma, L. Dong, and R. S. Lakes, “Three-Dimensional Stiff Cellular Structures With Negative Poisson’s Ratio,” Phys. Status Solidi B, vol. 254, no. 12, p. 1600785, 2017.
[7] F. N. Habib, P. Iovenitti, S. H. Masood, and M. Nikzad, “Fabrication of polymeric lattice structures for optimum energy absorption using Multi Jet Fusion technology,” Mater. Des., vol. 155, pp. 86–98, Oct. 2018.
[8] Y. Guo et al., “Thermal performance of a 3D printed lattice-structure heat sink packaging phase change material,” Chin. J. Aeronaut., vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 373–385, May 2021.
[9] L. Wang, H. Jiang, Z. Li, and G. Ma, “Mechanical behaviors of 3D printed lightweight concrete structure with hollow section,” Arch. Civ. Mech. Eng., vol. 20, no. 1, p. 16, Feb. 2020.
[10] M. R. Khosravani, A. Zolfagharian, M. Jennings, and T. Reinicke, “Structural performance of 3D-printed composites under various loads and environmental conditions,” Polym. Test., vol. 91, p. 106770, Nov. 2020.
[11] M.-F. Guo, H. Yang, and L. Ma, “Design and characterization of 3D AuxHex lattice structures,” Int. J. Mech. Sci., vol. 181, p. 105700, Sep. 2020.
[12] Y. Nian, S. Wan, P. Zhou, X. Wang, R. Santiago, and M. Li, “Energy absorption characteristics of functionally graded polymer-based lattice structures
filled aluminum tubes under transverse impact loading,” Mater. Des., vol. 209, p. 110011, Nov. 2021.
[13] F. Libonati, S. Graziosi, F. Ballo, M. Mognato, and G. Sala, “3D-Printed Architected Materials Inspired by Cubic Bravais Lattices,” ACS Biomater. Sci. Eng., vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 3935–3944, Jul. 2023.
[14] Li, P., Yang, F., Bian, Y. et al. Design of lattice materials with isotropic stiffness through combination of two complementary cubic lattice configurations. Acta Mech 234, 1843–1856 (2023).
[15] Sun, Q., Zhi, G., Zhou, S. et al. Compressive Mechanical and Heat Conduction Properties of AlSi10Mg Gradient Metamaterials Fabricated via Laser Powder Bed Fusion. Chin. J. Mech. Eng. 37, 123 (2024)
Published
Conference Proceedings Volume
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Md. Jahid Hasan, Manish Bhadra Arnab, Moinul Hasan Sadik, Md. Abdul Hasib, Md. Ashraful Islam (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All the articles published by this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
