Mechanical behavior of Ti6Al4V lattice structures; numerical and experimental analysis

This study deals with the mechanical behavior of lattice structures produced by the Laser Powder Bed Fusion process experimentally and numerically for four different topologies of Body-Centered Cubic, Body-Centered Cubic with struts along Z-direction, Face-Centered Cubic and Face-Centered Cubic with struts along Z-direction. To study the effect of cross-section geometry of the struts on the mechanical behavior of the structure, three circular, rectangular and I-shaped cross-sections with the same surface area were manufactured and tested. Their simulations were done using Abaqus software and the simulation results were in great agreement with the test results. Numerical and experimental investigations showed that samples with the I-shaped cross-section of the strut exhibit more stiffness and strength.