*WINNER* Optimizing Lattice Infill Structures to Reduce Mass & Power Consumption for Popular 3D Printing Technologies

Abstract

With Additive Manufacturing (AM) being heavily utilized in many industries and applications, several studies are done to evaluate different process parameters of the different AM methods. This work investigates the use of lattice infill structures to reduce mass and power consumption in two of the most common AM methods, Stereolithography (SLA) and Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). Previous studies done in this lab explored the power consumption and surface finish of these different technologies. The results of these studies lead to SLA being the superior AM method when it comes to power consumption and surface finish, while FFF takes much less time. With prior experimental results, optimum printing parameters are used to compare to lattice infill structures. Three different test specimens are used to perform this study; a bolt, a steering knuckle, and a knee joint. Shelling the objects and creating lattice infill structures is done using ANSYS SpaceClaim. For the two different AM methods, build time, mass, power consumption, and surface finish results are documented. Results indicate SLA responds exceptionally well with lattice infill structures. For lattice infill in FFF, advanced printing parameters are altered to optimize the use of such infill.