Impact of polyurethane (PU) infill on the energy absorption efficiency of 3D-printed metallic Menger fractal structures

IF 6.6 1区工程技术 Q1 ENGINEERING, CIVIL

Thin-Walled Structures Pub Date : 2025-10-01 DOI:10.1016/j.tws.2025.114045

Madhusha Bogahawaththa , Damith Mohotti , Kasun Wijesooriya , Chi King Lee

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

In this study, polyurethane (PU) infilled Menger fractal cubes (MFC) were studied for their energy absorption performance. Three different fractal orders were fabricated using selective laser melting (SLM) and studied both experimentally and numerically to investigate their compressive behaviour at 0.001 s^-1 strain rate. Compression tests reveal a synergistic effect between the PU and MFC, where the filled cubes showed greater load-bearing capacity than the hollow structures, demonstrating an ideal energy-absorbing response. The total energy absorption of PU-infilled cubes was higher than that of hollow cubes, while the specific energy absorption (SEA) remained relatively consistent (45–50 J/g). The PU-infilled MFCs demonstrated densification displacements nearly equivalent to hollow MFCs, indicating superior compressibility. Moreover, the higher-order PU-infilled MFCs exhibited two staged ideal energy-absorbing responses within their plateau regions, highlighting their suitability for higher energy-absorbing applications. Finite element modelling (FEM) predicted the stress concentration points, validated with experimental evidence. Additionally, the validated finite element models were utilised to predict the energy absorption response of the fourth-order MFC, and the internal behaviour was thoroughly examined. The study highlights the potential of PU-infilled MFCs in applications requiring robust impact resistance and energy absorption, such as protective elements in the automotive and aerospace industries.

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聚氨酯（PU）填料对3d打印金属门格尔分形结构吸能效率的影响

研究了聚氨酯（PU）填充门格尔分形立方体（MFC）的吸能性能。采用选择性激光熔化（SLM）法制备了3种不同的分形阶数，并对其在0.001 s-1应变速率下的压缩行为进行了实验和数值研究。压缩试验揭示了PU和MFC之间的协同效应，其中填充的立方体结构比空心结构表现出更大的承载能力，表现出理想的吸能响应。pu填充立方体的总吸能高于空心立方体，而比能吸收（SEA）保持相对一致（45 ~ 50 J/g）。pu填充mfc的致密化位移几乎与中空mfc相当，表明其具有优越的压缩性。此外，高阶pu填充的mfc在其高原区域内表现出两阶段的理想吸能响应，表明其适合于更高的吸能应用。有限元模型（FEM）预测了应力集中点，并通过实验验证。此外，利用验证的有限元模型预测了四阶MFC的能量吸收响应，并对其内部行为进行了彻底的研究。该研究强调了pu填充mfc在需要强大抗冲击性和能量吸收的应用中的潜力，例如汽车和航空航天工业中的保护元件。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Thin-Walled Structures 工程技术-工程：土木

CiteScore

9.60

自引率

20.30%

发文量

801

审稿时长

66 days

期刊介绍： Thin-walled structures comprises an important and growing proportion of engineering construction with areas of application becoming increasingly diverse, ranging from aircraft, bridges, ships and oil rigs to storage vessels, industrial buildings and warehouses. Many factors, including cost and weight economy, new materials and processes and the growth of powerful methods of analysis have contributed to this growth, and led to the need for a journal which concentrates specifically on structures in which problems arise due to the thinness of the walls. This field includes cold– formed sections, plate and shell structures, reinforced plastics structures and aluminium structures, and is of importance in many branches of engineering. The primary criterion for consideration of papers in Thin–Walled Structures is that they must be concerned with thin–walled structures or the basic problems inherent in thin–walled structures. Provided this criterion is satisfied no restriction is placed on the type of construction, material or field of application. Papers on theory, experiment, design, etc., are published and it is expected that many papers will contain aspects of all three.