Mechanical Performance of Additive Manufactured TPMS Lattice Structures Based on Topology Optimization

Lattice structures have attracted extensive attention in the field of engineering materials due to their characteristics of lightweight and high strength. This paper combines topology optimization with additive manu facturing to investigate how pore shape in Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) structures affects mechanical properties and energy absorption performance. The periodic lattice structures (Triangle lattice, rectangle lattice and Rectangle lattice) and aperiodic mixed structures are designed, including a variety of lattice structures such as circle-circle and triangle-triangle (CCTT), triangle-triangle and rectangle-rectangle (TTRR), circle-circle and rectangle-rectangle (CCRR), triangle-circle-circle-triangle (TCCT), rectangle-triangle-triangle-rectangle (RTTR) and rectangle-circle-circle-rectangle (RCCR). The anisotropy of the unit cells is compared by using the homogenization method. The deformation modes, mechanical properties, and energy absorption efficiency of lattice structures are evaluated systematically by finite elementanalysisandcompressionexperiments.Theresultsdemonstratethatthecircle lattice exhibits significantly superior performance in Young’s modulus, compressive strength, toughness, and energy absorption characteristics compared to the triangle lattice and the rectangle lattice. Among aperiodic structures, TCCT shows better comprehensive mechanical properties, while TTRR exhibits relatively inferior performance. The periodic structures possess overall superior mechanical performance. This study demonstrates that the mechanical properties and energy absorption characteristics can be optimized by controlling the pore shape of TPMS lattice structures. This provides an important insight into lightweight structure design in the engineering field.