Design of Energy-Absorbing Materials for Space Crafts Based on Voronoi Diagrams

Abstract

Energy-absorbing parts are important for the landing system of space crafts on celestial bodies. Open-cell porousPorous aluminum aluminumAluminum alloysAluminum alloys for energy as an energy-absorbing material were manufactured through the powder bed fusion (PBF) process. Mechanical propertiesMechanical properties of the porous metalsMetal depend on the cell structure as well as the porosity. The authors manufactured ordered cell structures, truncated octahedron and rhombic dodecahedron, and disordered cell structure, based on Voronoi diagramsVoronoi diagram using a 3D-CAD software. CompressionCompression tests revealed the high compressive strength and low energy absorptionEnergy absorption efficiency of porousPorous aluminum aluminumAluminum alloysAluminum alloys with ordered cell structure. On the other hand, the porousPorous aluminum aluminumAluminum alloysAluminum alloys with disordered cell structure showed relatively high energy absorptionEnergy absorption efficiency. Controlling the disordered cell structure designed by a 3D-Voronoi diagramVoronoi diagram enables to develop the advanced porous metalsMetal having various mechanical propertiesMechanical properties .