Adaptive honeycomb based on additive manufacturing: research on generation algorithm and mechanical characteristics

Currently, the problems of low efficiency and fabricate process complexity exist in hexagonal honeycomb structure generation algorithm of arbitrarily curved surface slice-type structure. For the above problems, this paper proposes an adaptive hexagonal grid calculation method based on the intracellular splitting iteration method for the first time. This method can better adapt to the complex spatial slice and arbitrary curved contour 3D structure, and it can also achieve the purpose of enhancing the mechanical performance and maintaining the lightweight structure. The time complexity and space complexity of the proposed iterative adaptive honeycomb calculation method are analyzed. The results show that time complexity is O ( M ⋅ N ) and space complexity is O (2600 M ), which meets the requirements of fast computing for the complex structure of the task. According to the principle of the above algorithm, different structural models including honeycomb cells are calculated and fabricated by selective laser melting additive manufacturing processes. The fabricated samples are mechanically compressed. According to the particular case results of the compression curve, the critical yield force of the honeycomb grid parts with iteration is higher than that of the homogeneous honeycomb grid parts, and the value is greater than 30%. Finally, the energy absorption efficiency can be increased by more than 20% according to the compression characteristics of the adaptive iterative honeycomb.