Review on the Design Approaches of Cellular Architectures Produced by Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

The advent of additive manufacturing (AM) has allowed conceiving components by their function and no longer by their manufacture. This benefit allows improving the components’ performances and the fabrication of geometrically complex parts such as cellular structures. The design method is fundamental for the layout of these components. In this work, we present the design approaches of regular and irregular strut-based and triply periodic minimal surface-based structures. We propose a novel design method of multifunctional cellular architectures enabling to generate structures with morphological variations that provide a component with different features and functionalities in its own volume, depending on its requirements. The final chapter present the study of a bio inspired cellular material, from the design to experimental testing through manufacture and simulation. The structure consists of an ultra-lightweight body made up of gyroid cells and reinforced with carbon fiber bars. This concept was used to design an innovative helmet, which aims at combining the lightness and impact resistance.