Page 43 - eBook_Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Manufacturing V2

ENHANCED BENDING STRENGTH
OF PLA BEAMS WITH VARIED

LATTICE INFILL STRUCTURES

Tariq Jamil (NED University of Engineering and Technology), Asaad
Iqbal (NED University of Engineering and Technology)*, Syed
Muhammad Uzair Ali Hasni (NED University of Engineering and
Technology), Abdul Moiz (NED University of Engineering and
Technology)

ABSTRACT

Additive Manufacturing has enabled utilisation of complex lattice
geometries in structural application such as beams and columns.
This study focused on the evaluation of bending strength of beams
produced through various strut-based, TPMS, and di-symmetric
lattice infills fabricated using additive manufacturing. In order to
evaluate the mechanical behaviour of beams varying only the
lattice geometries, the infill porosity was kept at 70%. This leads
to an infill volume of 0.0496 kg, considering Polylactic acid as the
printing material. The range of lattice structures includes body-
centred cubic (BCC), face-centred cubic (FCC), Kelvin, octet,
hexagonal honeycomb (HX HC), triangular honeycomb (TRI
HC), fluorite, diamond, and Gyroid, through three-point bending
simulations in ANSYS. Comparative study of mechanical
behaviour through equivalent strain and stress/mass ratio for each
infill configuration showed that triangular honeycomb infill had
superior performance as compared to their counterparts. The
results also shed light on the stress concentration regions and the
significant influence of lattice geometry on the bending
performance of the beams.

Keywords: Additive Manufacturing, Lattice Structures, Infill,
Three-Point Bending Test (TPBT), PLA, Steel, ANSYS, N-
Topology, Stress/Mass Ratio, Equivalent Strain.

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