Evaluation of Differences Between FEA Predictions With Geometric Variations and Tensile Tests of Strut Specimens of Lattice Structures Fabricated by Material Extrusion

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this study is to evaluate the differences between the tensile test results of individual strut members fabricated by the material extrusion process and finite element analysis (FEA) predictions of the struts modeled with the geometric variations introduced by the material extrusion method using advanced statistical methods based on the spatial dependency. For this purpose, strut member specimens with different diameter values and angles are fabricated using the material extrusion technique from PLA material. The fabricated strut specimens are examined by a digital light microscope and the measurements are done for the fabricated diameter variations. These variations are characterized using the random field method and integrated into the FEA models by using voxel elements. Tensile tests of the fabricated strut specimens at different diameters and build angles are also conducted. The reasons for the differences of FEA results from the experimental results and solutions to improve the prediction accuracy are discussed.