Fabrication and characterization of metallic cellular lattice structures using indirect additive manufacturing

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Graduated Student, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate University of Advanced Technology

2 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate University of Advanced Technology

3 Associate Professor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate University of Advanced Technology

Abstract

Despite of outstanding properties of cellular materials, their properties cannot be well controlled, and their applications are limited due to irregular pores. Although the use of cellular lattice structures repels this difficulty, complex geometry of these materials makes it impossible to produce metallic ones using conventional manufacturing methods. In addition, additively manufactured metallic samples are expensive. In this study, in order to fabricate and characterize inexpensive metallic cellular lattices, an indirect additive manufacturing process, including fused deposition modeling and gravity casting, is utilized and the effects of different parameters on the quality of the final part are assessed through experimental and numerical methods. Simulations’ results show that decreasing the melt load time, and increasing molten Al temperature, mold temperature, mesh height, and struts’ diameter increase the mold filling percentage. For the fabricated samples, the difference between the struts’ diameter of the sacrificial patterns and designed ones increases by decreasing the struts’ diameter, especially for horizontal struts. For metallic samples, the struts’ diameter’s difference is mainly related to the sacrificial patterns so that the error arisen from casting process is just about 2.2 percent. Also, using the utilized method, cellular lattices with struts’ diameter smaller than 3 mm cannot be fabricated. Microscopic images demonstrate that the samples’ defects are mainly of misrun type which are located on the top plate of BCC and BCCZ samples and on the horizontal struts of SC ones.

Keywords

References

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Aerospace Knowledge and Technology Journal
Volume 9, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
October 2020
Pages 207-220

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