Quasi-static compressive performance of 3D printed polymer composite cellular cubic structures-An experimental study

Light weight cellular structures have gained extensive attention in the impact energy absorption applications owing to their superior specific strength and excellent crashworthiness characteristics. The main objective of the present research work is to utilize this benefit to tailor and to improve the structural design and material type of cellular structures for crashworthiness applications. Cubic structures with four different types of design patterns such as concave, convex, hyperbola, and hexagon were proposed and fabricated through three-dimensional (3D) printing technique. Four polymeric filament materials such as Poly lactic acid (PLA), Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), PLA mixed carbon fiber (PLA/CF), and Polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG), mixed carbon fiber (PETG/CF) were utilized. Accordingly, the compression tests were performed on the fabricated cellular cubic structures under quasi-static loading to examine the effect of design pattern, and material types on the compressive behavior and energy absorbing characteristics. The results revealed that the convex design pattern of 3D printed PETG/CF cubic structure showed the significant energy absorbing characteristics compared to the other three design patterns. It is emphasized that the proposed 3D printed cubic cellular structures have great prospective to substitute the traditional energy absorbing structures in automotive vehicles and high speed trains.