Bioinspired Design of Material Architecture for Additive Manufacturing

Abstract

This research explores the enhancement of mechanical properties in material architectures, such as strength-to-weight ratio and resilience, through the inspiration of natural systems. Historically, designs for additive manufacturing have relied on simple, repetitive structures like honeycombs, often leading to unnecessary material expenditure. This study aims to examine the compressive mechanical attributes of designs inspired by natural systems, including bird nests, cocoons, and the layered structure of skull bones. Through a comparative analysis, we assessed peak load capacity, strength-to-weight ratio, and resilience between these bioinspired architectures and a standard 3D infill pattern utilized in additive manufacturing. Findings indicate that structures inspired by sandwiched bone layers excel in resilience and peak load, whereas those based on bird nests are notably lighter and, in some cases, exhibit the highest strength-to-weight ratio. The insights provided here will help design engineers with empirically backed mechanical properties of bioinspired architectures, offering a novel methodology for the development of material systems influenced by biological paradigms.

Dimensioning of Biomimetic Beams under Bending for Additively Manufactured Structural Components

“…Grass stalks and horsetails were found to have considerable bending and distortion stiffness based on interconnected ring structures that allow for a beneficial axial second moment of area [10]. In [11], biomimetic infill structures based on a bird nest, a cocoon, trees, turtle shells, and bone were investigated. This study focused on additively manufactured samples and found great potential for the designs for the three objectives of maximal supported load in compression, resilience, and strengthto-weight ratio.…”