Image-Based Geometrical Characterization of Nodes in Additively Manufactured Lattice Structures

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) enables the fabrication of lattice structures with optimal mechanical, fluid, and thermal properties. However, during the AM fabrication process, defects are produced in the strut and node elements, which comprise the lattice structure. This leads to discrepancies between the AM fabricated lattice and its idealized computer-aided design (CAD) model, negatively affecting the ability to predict the mechanical behavior of the fabricated lattice via numerical models. Current research is focused on quantification of geometric uncertainties in the strut elements of the lattice; as-manufactured node geometries remain relatively unexplored on an individual scale, despite ..