Just How Strong is 3D Printed Aluminum? One Man Finds Out!

[Brian_Krassenstein]

Dahlon P Lyles is a Purdue University research assistant and lab technician, and an associate engineer at 3rd Dimension Industrial 3D printing. He has created a lattice structure -- 3D printed using an aluminum alloy -- that can support more than 100,000 times its own weight. The 3.9g lattice cube, just 24mm on a side, can support distributed loads of over 400kg before succumbing to the pressure. The lattice structure was designed using SolidWorks and created via a 3D Systems ProX 200 3D printer. Check out more details on this lightweight, heavy load-bearing proof of concept in the full article: http://3dprint.com/29958/3d-printed-aluminum-lattice/


Below is a photo of the tiny cube supporting a full grown man's weight:

[brbubba]

Curious if they actually annealed this before testing, I would think it would produce an even stronger lattice.

[donwinterhalter]

When I look at that lattice, I see an amazing heat sink. I'm not sure that it's the ideal aluminum alloy but the convection possibilities seem incredible.

[dbonner]

Hi, I don't see why this structure is so efficient at carrying the given axial load.

The material has an ultimate tensile strength of 130 MPa = 130 N per mm2. (low estimate, could be more like 180)
The section to support 4000 newtons is 4000/130 = 30 mm2.
Note, the height is 24 mm. 30 mm2 distributed on 24 mm height is a good slenderness ratio, I don't think it will be subject to buckling. So, we can assume full strength in compression.

And the weight of that little cylinder will be 24 mm x 30 mm2 x 0.00266 g/mm3 (density of aluminum alloy) = 1.9 grams
So the cylinder carries 2x more weight in proportion to its own weight. The supposedly super efficient structure is 50% as efficient as a simple tube...

Why has nobody thought of taking a short piece of aluminum tube, cutting it to the right length, and testing it?

Let's get this clear: I am a big fan of latttices, they have many tremendous applications.
But I think that the person posting here has not made any effort to figure out whether this lattice in particular is being efficient at carrying this axial load.