Manufacturability and Mechanical Characterization of Laser Sintered Lattice Structures

The implementation of lattice structures into additive manufactured parts is an important method to decrease part weight maintaining a high specific payload. However, the manufacturability of lattice structures and mechanical properties for polymer laser sintering are quite unknown yet. To examine the manufacturability, sandwich structures with different cell types, cell sizes and lattice bar widths were designed, manufactured and evaluated. A decisive criterion is for example a sufficient powder removal. In a second step, manufacturable structures were analyzed using four-point-bending tests. Experimental data is compared to the density of the lattice structures and allows for a direct comparison of different cell types with varied geometrical attributes. The results of this work are guidelines for the design and dimensioning of laser sintered lattice structures.