Analysis on Deformation Behavior and Restructuring of Additive Manufactured Metal Lattice-Structures under Compressive Loading Condition

We studied compressive behavior of two types of lattice structures having small-scale struts fabricated by utilizing a metal additive manufacturing process. Generally known, the lattice structure has some advantages such as lightweight and high specific mechanical strength, allowing diverse potential applications in the aerospace and mobility industries. In this work, we proposed two types of lattice such as body-centered truss (BCT) and octahedral truss (OCT) that were designed and fabricated for a compression test. From the experimental results, the OCT has much higher strength than the BCT, and all cases showed several buckling modes during the compressive behavior. Furthermore, ‘restructuring’ occurred with BCT, and the compressive force increased overall but fluctuated due to the restructuring by an increase of compression. Through this work, we found out that the BCT has the interesting compressive behaviors, and a repetitive bucking-restructuring was found. In fact, its strength could be increased continuously by the restructuring during compression. In conclusion, the BCT has key-characteristics of lightweight and re-strengthening, which are applicable to various applications in the industry.