Numerical Investigation of the Fatigue Behavior of Lattice Structures Under Compression–Compression Loading
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Recent years have shown that additive manufacturing is able to significantly increase the potential for enhancing lightweight structural design. In particular, strut-based lattices have attracted considerable research interest due to their promising mechanical performance in lightweight engineering applications. While the quasi-static properties of such lattices are relatively well established, their fatigue behavior remains insufficiently understood. This work presents a numerical investigation of the fatigue life of laser powder bed-fused strut-based lattices using the finite element method (FEM). Periodic AlSi10Mg lattice structures with two different unit cells, bcc and f2ccz, and three different aspect ratios were analyzed under uniaxial compression–compression loading. The stress-life approach was used to model the fatigue failure of the representative unit cells in the high-cycle fatigue region. The numerical predictions were compared with experimental results, showing good agreement between simulations and physical tests. The findings highlighted that the fatigue response was primarily governed by aspect ratio, unit cell topology, bulk material properties, and mean stress imposed by the load ratio. Moreover, stress concentrations arising from notch effects in the nodal regions were identified as critical fatigue crack initiation sites.
Source: Journal of Composites Science
DOI: 10.3390/jcs10010028
Authors: Matthias Greiner, Andreas Kappel, Marc Röder, Christian Mittelstedt
Institution: Technische Universität Darmstadt
Language: English
Subfield: Mechanical Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,172
OpenAlex ID: W7118443449