On the Technological Feasibility of Additively Manufactured Self-Supporting AlSi10Mg Lattice Structures

The capability to design and manufacture metal lattice structures is today one of the most promising targets of powder bed fusion technologies. Not only additively manufactured lattices offer great lightweighting possibilities but they also open the way to tailored and graded mechanical response. To best capitalize on this opportunity, research effort is first needed to assess the feasibility of reticular structures and to quantify the expected deviations from the nominal geometry, as a function of the cell topology and dimensions. Notwithstanding the inherent suitability of additive processes to complex shapes, this paper proposes a more exact definition of the technological boundaries for body-centered cubic lattices, showing to what extent specific dimensional ratios, as well as a self-supporting cell structure, can be favorable to minimize the deviation from the nominal reticulum in terms of dimensions, density, and presence of defects.