Design of Energy-Absorbing Materials for Space Crafts Based on Voronoi Diagrams

Abstract

Energy-absorbing parts are important for the landing system of space crafts on celestial bodies. Open-cell porous aluminum alloys for energy as an energy-absorbing material were manufactured through the powder bed fusion (PBF) process. Mechanical properties of the porous metals depend on the cell structure as well as the porosity. The authors manufactured ordered cell structures, truncated octahedron and rhombic dodecahedron, and disordered cell structure, based on Voronoi diagrams using a 3D-CAD software. Compression tests revealed the high compressive strength and low energy absorption efficiency of porous aluminum alloys with ordered cell structure. On the other hand, the porous aluminum alloys with disordered cell structure showed relatively high energy absorption efficiency. Controlling the disordered cell structure designed by a 3D-Voronoi diagram enables to develop the advanced porous metals having various mechanical properties.