Discovering the Impact of Printing Parameters on the Crashworthiness Performance of 3D-Printed Cellular Structures

Abstract

Enhancing vehicle crashworthiness is critical for improving passenger safety during collisions. Subsequently, this research seeks to explore both the deformation characteristics and the crashworthiness behaviors of square tubes made from 3D-printed polylactic acid (PLA). For this reasons, three printing parameters are examined, each at four different levels: infill pattern structure (gyroid, honeycomb, Schwarz P, and Schwarz D), infill density (5, 10, 20, and 30%), and layer height (0.15, 0.20, 0.25, and 0.30 mm). The structures were exposed to quasi-static axial compression loading to assess their performance. During the testing of these tubes, data were systematically gathered on crashing load, absorbed energy, and displacement responses. In addition, the failure histories of each tube were accurately documented. The evaluation of crashworthiness involved the measurement of several critical indicators: the initial peak crash load (\({F}_{\text{ip}}\)), the total energy absorbed (U), the mean crash load (\({F}_{\text{m}}\)), the specific absorbed energy (SEA), and the crash force efficiency (CFE). To identify the optimal configuration, a multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) approach was employed. This analysis revealed that the combination of honeycomb pattern structure, 30% infill density, and a layer height of 0.20 mm (denoted as H30/0.20), which achieved \({F}_{\text{ip}}\), U, \({F}_{\text{m}}\), SEA, and CFE of 26.35 kN, 1440.73 J, 24.01 J/g, 33.54 kN, and 0.911, respectively, offered the best performance in terms of crashworthiness.