Compression properties and energy absorption of Gyroid lattice cylindrical shells filled thin-walled tubes fabricated by selective laser melting

Abstract

In recent years, lattice cylindrical shells (LCSs) based on the triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS) have been researched in the energy absorption (EA) field due to their distinctive mechanical properties. However, LCS structures will generate severe lateral expansion and localized fragmentation during compressive deformation, resulting in a significant decrease on compression performance. To further improve EA properties, Gyroid LCS filled thin-walled tubes (LCS-T) are proposed and produced by selective laser melting (SLM). In this work, the influence of the interaction (hollow thin-walled tubes + LCSs core) of the Gyroid LCS-T with different filling radii on the compressive properties and EA were investigated by the quasi-static compression experiments and finite element simulation systematically. The results showed that the Gyroid LCS-T based on AlMgScZr alloy fabricated by SLM had high connection strength and no obvious defects. The specific EA (SEA) of Gyroid LCS-T with radius of 3, 6, and 9 increased by 42.1%, 49.3%, and 53.3%, respectively, compared to thin-walled tubes. Compared to the sum of all components individually, the Gyroid LCS-T achieved superior performance in both compressive properties and EA by transferring stresses from the LCS interior to the thin-walled tube. Furthermore, the gradient design realized adjustment of the structural deformation and improved EA with about 1.24 times compared to uniform structure. This research offered visionary insights into designing energy-absorbing structures and optimizing parameters for LCS-T.