Experimental and analytical investigation of bio-inspired lattice structures under compressive loading

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to fabricate a Novel bio-inspired lattice structure for energy absorption. A lattice structure design was proposed based on the microstructure of one of the various butterfly species Papilio Xuthus. Two major parameters are chosen from the structure to make multiple designs which may cause changes in the behavior of the structure among all available parameters. The parametric values required for the designs were calculated with the help of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) using Minitab software. The proposed designs are modeled in Autodesk Fusion 360 and 3D printed specimens of size 40 × 40 × 40 (all are in mm) are fabricated by Stereolithography (SLA) process based on the chosen parameters. The 3D-printed specimens are tested under quasi-static compressive loading using Instron 8801 Universal testing machine (UTM). The test results obtained from the testing are used to construct regression equations for energy absorption (EA) and specific energy absorption (SEA). The developed equations can be used to find out EA and SEA values for any combination of the proposed parameters (x and d) for suitable energy absorption applications.