Compression of filled, open-cell, 3D-printed Kelvin lattices

Abstract

The sensitivity of compressive strength of a polymeric Kelvin lattice to the presence of an epoxy core has been investigated both experimentally and numerically. Crush bands develop in the empty lattice, with large oscillations in load due to geometric softening and the sequential fracture of successive layers of struts. In contrast, the epoxy core has a sufficiently high modulus and strength that outward lateral flow of the epoxy through the open-cell lattice is negligible: the boundary layer, wherein migration of epoxy occurs through the lattice, extends less than one cell size from the surface of the specimen. The epoxy core supports the struts and stabilises the bulk macroscopic response against crush band formation. Finite element analysis of periodic unit cells show that the presence of an almost incompressible epoxy core changes the deformation mode of the lattice from one that is close to uniaxial straining to an isochoric mode. However, both the compressible collapse mode of the empty lattice and the isochoric deformation mode of the filled lattice are bending-dominated. At finite strain, the observed macroscopic strength of the filled lattice is degraded by bending failure of the struts and by tensile cracking of the adjacent core; the failure location is at a particular subset of the nodes of the lattice. Microcrack coalescence leads to the formation of a series of vertical fissures in the specimen.