Design and characterization of trabecular structures for an anti-icing sandwich panel produced by additive manufacturing

Abstract

The need for a high-efficiency hot air anti-icing system is met by the use of sandwich panels with high surface area trabecular structures as core. Trabecular structures have good mechanical properties and are able to act as thermal exchange and structural support. A structural characterization of complex trabecular structures made by Additive Manufacturing is required. For this study, AlSi10Mg specimens were produced by Selective Laser Melting technology varying cell shapes (with or without vertical struts), cell sizes (4 and 5 mm) and struts size (1 and 1.2 mm). Compressive tests were performed on the specimens and fracture mechanisms for the two cell types were analyzed by optical microscope observation. The rupture modes of the specimens are strongly dependent on the cell shape as shown by the mechanical results and confirmed by comparison with the Gibson–Ashby model.