Analytical Calculation of the Mechanical Properties of Honeycombs Printed Using the FDM Additive Manufacturing Technology

Abstract

FDM 3D printed honeycombs are investigated. A honeycomb is composed of regular hexagonal cells. A honeycomb is 3D printed so that the fused filament runs along the walls of its cells. We emphasize that the thickness of these walls is one or two times the thickness of the fused filament. When calculating the mechanical properties of a honeycomb, its walls are considered as a Euler-Bernoulli beam bending in one plane. To describe honeycombs, a homogenization procedure is used, which reduces a honeycomb to a homogeneous orthotropic medium. An adequate analytical calculation of the mechanical properties of this medium is the subject of our research. Analytical formulae for calculating the mechanical properties of honeycombs are presented. To assess the adequacy of the calculation results, the analytical data are compared with the results of simulation in the commercial ANSYS package. For this, the mechanical properties of the honeycombs made of the ULTEM 9085 material are determined numerically. To assess these properties, from a large number of analytical formulae are selected those that predict them adequately. As a result of calculations, an analytical prediction of all mechanical properties is obtained, with the exception of the in-plane shear modulus of a honeycomb. This is due to the fact that to simulate such a shear modulus one has to use a three-dimensional theory that does not have an adequate analytical description. A thin aluminum honeycomb was considered. In the future, three-layer structures with such a honeycomb will be investigated. Analytical results for ULTEM 9085 and aluminum honeycombs are similar.