Compressive behavior and energy absorption of polymeric lattice structures made by additive manufacturing

Lattice structures have numerous outstanding characteristics, such as light weight, high strength, excellent shock resistance, and highly efficient heat dissipation. In this work, by combining experimental and numerical methods, we investigate the compressive behavior and energy absorption of lattices made through the stereolithography apparatus process. Four types of lattice structures are considered: (i) Uniform body-centered-cubic (U-BCC); (ii) graded body-centered-cubic (G-BCC); (iii) uniform body-centered-cubic with z-axis reinforcement (U-BCCz); and (iv) graded body-centered-cubic with z-axis reinforcement (G-BCCz). We conduct compressive tests on these four lattices and numerically simulate the compression process through the finite element method. Analysis results show that BCCz has higher modulus and strength than BCC. In addition, uniform lattices show better energy absorption capabilities at small compression distances, while graded lattices absorb more energy at large compression distances. The good correlation between the simulation results and the experimental phenomena demonstrates the validity and accuracy of the present investigation method.