Design Strategies towards the Optimization of 3D Additive Manufactured Lattice Structures

Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques are based on the process of joining materials, layer upon layer, differently from subtractive manufacturing methods. The design for AM allows for the creation of complex shapes as well as for the improvement of the performance of critical components in several fields, spanning from aerospace and automotive to biomedical applications. On the other hand, unlike man-made high load-bearing capacity devices, which are usually dense solids, nature uses mesoscopic or microscopic cellular structures as a fundamental support for the design. The increasing applications of AM in industrial production have led to product reimagination from a novel standpoint, enabling the fabrication of advanced lattice structures using polymer-based materials. Over the past few years, many efforts have been made to develop strategies for finding the design which is best suited to the requirements. In the current research, specific design scenarios were explored, the aim being to develop novel lattice structures for energy absorption, using an AM technique (i.e., fused deposition modelling) and a modified Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate (ASA)-based material. The fabricated structures were preliminarily analysed by means of compression tests.