Mechanical Properties of 3-D Printed Cellular Foams with triangular cells

In the present work, poly lactic acid (PLA) is used as a model system to investigate the mechanical behavior of 3-D printed foams with triangular cells. Solid PLA tension and compression specimens and foams made of PLA were fabricated using fused deposition 3-D printing technique. The solid PLA tension specimens were characterized for their densities and found to be about 10% lower in density as compared to their bulk counter parts. The triangular foams had a relative density of about 64%. The relationships between the structure of the foams and its deformation behavior under compression along two in-plane directions were characterized. Furthermore, simple finite element models were developed to understand the observed deformation behavior of triangular foams.