Latest developments in Additive Manufacturing have expedited the production of parts with complex structures and smaller sizes. Being a spacefilling unit cell, lattice structures can be structured along any axis without any gap between them. As a solution to the weight, energy and advanced manufacturing challenges in the medical field, lattice structures have evolved as an advanced solution. In this work, the compressive properties of two classes of lattice structures have been studied and compared. The first class is the TPMS or Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces (for example, Gyroid Diamond, etc.) and the second class is the Strut based lattice structures (for example, BCC, FCC, etc.). Implicit modelling approach has been adopted in this article to create different types of lattice structures using the nTopology software. This was followed by compression testing to determine the response of considered lattice structures using Finite Element Analysis ANSYS 2020 software. From the results obtained it can be concluded that TPMS based lattice structures exhibit superior mechanical properties than the strut-based lattice structures. Among them, the diamond TPMS has the maximum compressive load bearing capacity. It was also observed that with a decrease in volume fraction, the effect of geometry on the mechanical properties increases. This study is likely to assist in the design of improved modern day medical implants.

PDF (Download Full text)

| Download Citation (XML)