Basic design rules of unit cells for additive manufactured lattice structures

¹ University of Applied Sciences Aachen, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics, Goe-thestr. 1, 52064 Aachen, Germany
¹ Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Department of Manufacturing Engineering, B-dul Muncii, 103-105, 400641 Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Abstract

Additive Manufacturing is a cutting-edge technology for the production of complex, functional, filigree and topology-optimized components. The growing demand for high-tech light-weight structures increasingly requires support in the design process of fine lattice structures. However, due to the high information density regarding lattice structures, which is based on many scientific research studies, the effective design of a specifically product-oriented lattice structure is made more difficult. The focus of this work is to provide a user-friendly information basis for the user or constructor. Therefore, this scientific work serves to show the first basic rules for the design of simple unit cells for additive lattice structures. The approach is based on the evaluation of the limiting manufacturing factors, which can be reduced both to the minimum and maximum angle and length, as well as to the cross-sectional geometry. The analysis reveals a considerable extent to the cross-sectional geometries and their welding pattern in various quality forms. The results obtained form the basis for the development of complex functional unit cells. However, the construction of a unit cell is only a part of a lattice structure, so additional factors must be added to the unit cell assembly.