Mechanical Properties of Biocompatible 316L Steel Rhombic Dodecahedron Lattice Structures

Additive manufactured lattice structures have the potential of enhancing many of today’s engineered products manufactured by traditionally methods. The former provides the capability of altering the mechanical, thermal and acoustic properties of structures through the use of lattices. However, more investigation is needed to better understand the manufacturability and the mechanical behavior of sandwich structures. This paper investigates the influence of strut size on the global stiffness and the compressive strength using compression testing of sandwich structures. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) analysis is applied to determine the local strain distribution during the compression test. It is found that the compressive strength increases linearly with increased lattice strut diameter. Moreover, based on DIC the maximum strains are observed in the strut connection regions.