Bending properties and numerical modelling of cellular panels manufactured from wood fibre/PLA biocomposite by 3D printing
Chiara Zarna, Gary Chinga‐Carrasco, Andreas T. Echtermeyer
Abstract
The major advantage of cellular structures is the saving of material, energy, cost, and weight. Biocomposites are strong, lightweight materials and offer a high degree of design freedom. The purpose of this study was to characterise and compare the bending properties of various cellular structures for utilisation in panels made of a wood fibre/PLA biocomposite. Material extrusion (MEX) 3D printing is a highly flexible manufacturing method and well-suited for prototyping. Hence, MEX was applied to manufacture five different cell configurations that were mechanically tested. Additionally, numerical simulations were carried out to present a tool for optimising the structures for future requirements. Two material modelling approaches, a hyperelastic and a linear elastic, bimodular model were created and validated based on 3-point-bending tests. It is shown that a linear elastic, bimodular and perfectly plastic material model can adequately capture the elastic/plastic bending behaviour of the corresponding 3D-printed sandwich panels.