Mechanical characterisation of lattice structures manufactured by Selective Laser Melting process (SLM)

The aim of this work is to study lattice structures made by additive manufacturing technology, made with SLM process in particular. Starting from a metal powder and thanks to a laser source, a specific part is produced layer by layer. This kind of technology allows the production of objects with complex shapes that would not be possible using traditional manufacturing methods. This work is divided into 5 chapters. The first chapter, "Introduction", provides a quick overview of additive technology and its advantages. It also introduces the concept of lattice structures with definitions and a first classification. The second chapter, "State of Art", illustrates some theoretical concepts that are present today in the literature on the subject of cellular material. The strut-based cellular structures and TPMS ones are presented, behaviours are analysed and some of the most common geometries are illustrated. Some properties were then explained. The third chapter "Materials and Methods" opens the experimental part of this work. It describes the fabrication of the chosen structures and explains the various processes that led to the characterisation and detection of certain mechanical properties. In the fourth chapter, "Results and Discussions", the results obtained in the experiments are presented, with a focus on parameters such as Young's modulus, Yield strength, and specific energy absorbed (SEA). Finally, a comparison with the Ashby-Gibson model is made. Chapter 5 summarises the results obtained and concludes the work.