The in-plane compression performance of hierarchical honeycomb additive manufactured structures

Abstract

Abstract Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) is a simple additive manufacturing (AM) technology utilising fine filament extrusion of mainly thermoplastic materials to build 3D objects layer by layer. The focus of this paper is firstly to design hierarchical honeycombs and secondly to fabricate such structures using FDM with polylactic acid (PLA). The manufactured hierarchical honeycombs were tested under compression. The compression performance of the hierarchical honeycombs was assessed also with finite element analysis and the results were compared with the experimental derived properties in order to elucidate the mechanical behaviour of such honeycomb AM structures. The results reveal that for the 2nd order hierarchy of honeycombs the stiffness and the strength are increased in comparison with the 0th and the 1st hierarchies.