An Approach to Design a Prototype of Lattice Structures: a Preliminary Study

Abstract

This paper investigates the mechanical response of lattice cells based on numerical models and 3D
printed specimens. Considering the growing interest in the application of lattice structures in engineering
and biomedical research, the design of lattice structures is becoming one of the key areas of modern
materials engineering. The goal of this study is to develop author lattice cells that can be used in porous
implants maintaining external compression loading. In the scope of this study, four author lattice cells
were designed and produced from Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) material using Zortrax M200
and Bambu Lab A1 3D printers (fused deposition modelling (FDM) technology) without using any
supporting materials. A uniaxial compression test was performed using Zwick/Roell Z020. A numerical
analysis of proposed lattice cells was conducted in FEBio and Abaqus. Young's moduli of all tested
lattice cells were assessed from experimental and numerical data along with relative errors. The Young’s
modulus was identified in the range: the smallest was 14.24 MPa (experimental) with 27.00/25.00 MPa
(numerical) and the largest was 571.33 MPa (experimental) with 611.69/641.27 MPa (numerical). This
study presents a validated numerical-experimental protocol that can be applied to produce FDM-printed
lattice cell structures through closed iteration approach by considering given requirements along with
technological limitations of FDM printings (manufacturing-induced flaws, staircase effects, and anisotropic
polymer layer-bonding effects). Presented findings reveal that the designed topologies of lattice
cells depend on the resolution of used 3D printers, however proposed numerical-experimental protocol
offers a low-cost promising pathway for the early-stage design of patient-specific bone tissue implants.