SammanfattningTriply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS)-baserade nätverksstrukturer har snabbt blivit populära i flera tillämpningar, exempelvis medicinska implantat, värmeväxlare, stötdämpareoch lättviktskonstruktioner. Gyroidstrukturen är förmodligen den mest kända och använda, men en mängd varianter existerar med extremt goda egenskaper vid additiv tillverkning. Nätverkenkan printas helt utan stödstrukturer och kan erhålla mekaniska egenskaper i nivå̊ med de relativa bulkegenskaperna. I detta projekt skall mekaniska egenskaper för TPMS-baserade provbitar SLS-printade i PA11 undersökas genom dragprov, böjprov, slagseghetsprov och kompressionsprov. Dessutom ska det undersökas om byggriktning och orientering i skrivarens byggkammare har betydelse för materialets mekaniska egenskaper. Utöver detta kommer även en materialmodell byggas upp för analys med hjälp av Abaqus.Slutsatserna från examensarbetet var att både byggriktning och orientering i skrivarens kammare har betydelse för materialegenskaperna. Med resultaten från proverna ges rekommendationen att rikta stavarna från kammarens dörr inåt och med orienteringen liggandes. Även drogs slutsatsen att nätverksstrukturer når upp i nivå med de relativa bulkegenskaperna för trepunkts böjprov, dock endast med en ram runt hela provbiten. Det räckte ej med endast ram under och över / Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS)-based structures have quickly become popular inmany applications, for example medicinal implants, heat exchangers, shock absorbers and lightweight constructions. The gyroid structure is probably the most known and used, but plenty of variations exist with extremely good properties for additive manufacturing. The networks can be printed completely without support structures and can obtain mechanical properties in line with the relative bulk properties.This project shall evaluate the mechanical properties of TPMS-based test specimens SLSprinted in PA11 through compression testing, tensile testing, impact testing and three-point flexural testing. It shall also be determined if build direction and orientation in the printer’s build chamber effects the material’s mechanical properties. In addition to this will a material model be constructed for finite element analysis in Abaqus.The conclusions from this bachelor’s thesis are that both build direction and orientation in the printer’s build chamber effects the material mechanical properties. Based on the results from the tests the recommendation is given to direct the test specimens inward from the chamber’s door and to orient the specimens flat. The conclusion is also drawn that network structures can reach the relative bulk properties in three-point flexural test, however only with a frame encompassing the entire specimen. A frame only on top and bottom wasn’t enough.

abstract: The advancements in additive manufacturing have made it possible to bring life to designs that would otherwise exist only on paper. An excellent example of such designs are the Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) structures like Schwarz D, Schwarz P, Gyroid, etc. These structures are self-sustaining, i.e. they require minimal supports or no supports at all when 3D printed. These structures exist in stable form in nature, like butterfly wings are made of Gyroids. Automotive and aerospace industry have a growing demand for strong and light structures, which can be solved using TPMS models. In this research we will try and understand some of the properties of these Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) structures and see how they perform in comparison to the conventional models. The research was concentrated on the mechanical, thermal and fluid flow properties of the Schwarz D, Gyroid and Spherical Gyroid Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) models in particular, other Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) models were not considered. A detailed finite element analysis was performed on the mechanical and thermal properties using ANSYS 19.2 and the flow properties were analyzed using ANSYS Fluent under different conditions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Mechanical Engineering 2019

Lightweight mechanical metamaterials with exception specific stiffness and strength are useful in many applications, such as transportation, aerospace, architectures and etc. These materials show great potential in mechanical tasks where weight of the material is restrained due to economy or energy reasons. To achieve both the lightweight and the high specific mechanical properties, the metamaterials are often in form of periodic cellular structures with well-designed unit cells. The strategies in designing and improving such cellular structures become the key in the studies of such mechanical metamaterials. In this work, we use both experimental and numerical approaches while probing three types of mechanical metamaterials: i) composite bending dominated hollow lattices (HLs); ii) triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMSs) and extended TPMSs (eTPMSs); iii) corrugated TPMSs. We have demonstrated a few strategies in designing and improving the specific stiffness or strength via these examples of mechanical metamaterials. Using carbon/ceramic composite in the bending dominated HLs, we prove that using the composite layered material against the single layer ceramic is effective in improving the specific mechanical performances of the mechanical metamaterials. Next, while studying the nature of TPMS, we discover that under isotropic deformation TPMSs are stretch dominated with no stress concentrations within the shell structure. They also have an optimal specific bulk modulus approaching the H-S upper bound. Furthermore, we establish a strategy to smoothly connect the zero-mean-curvature surfaces in TPMSs with the extension of zero-Gaussion-curvature surfaces, forming new ‘eTPMSs”. These new shellular structures trade off its isotropy and have improved specific Young’s modulus along their stiffest orientation compared to their TPMS base structures. Lastly, we introduce corrugated sub-structures to existing TPMSs to improve their mechanical properties, such as Young’s modulus, yield strength and failure strength in compression. It is found that the corrugated sub-structure can effectively suppress the local bending behavior and redirect crack propagation while such structures were under uniaxial compression.

abstract: Additive manufacturing, also known as 3-dimensional (3-d) printing, is now a rapidly growing manufacturing technique. Innovative and complex designs in various aspects of engineering have called for more efficient manufacturing techniques and 3-d printing has been a perfect choice in that direction. This research investigates the use of additive manufacturing in fabricating polymer heat exchangers and estimate their effectiveness as a heat transfer device. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Stereolithography (SLA) are the three 3-d printing techniques that are explored for their feasibility in manufacturing heat exchangers. The research also explores a triply periodic minimal structure–the gyroid, as a heat exchanger design. The performance of the gyroid heat exchanger was studied using experiments. The main parameters considered for the experiments were heat transfer rate, effectiveness and pressure drop. From the results obtained it can be inferred that using polymers in heat exchangers helps reducing corrosion and fouling problems, but it affects the effectiveness of the heat exchangers. For our design, the maximum effectiveness achieved was 0.1. The pressure drop for the heat exchanger was observed to decrease with an increase in flow rate and the maximum pressure drop measured was 0.88 psi for a flow rate of 5 LPM. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Mechanical Engineering 2019

In recent years, triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS) have drawn much attention in research mainly due to their smooth, highly symmetrical surfaces, non-self-intersecting features, and mathematically controllable topologies. TPMS can have pre-defined physical and mechanical properties. The advancement of additive manufacturing technology enables us to fabricate these intricate geometric structures which was not possible by traditional manufacturing methods. In this study, the vat photopolymerization technique was used to manufacture Primitive, Gyroid, and Diamond structures. Samples were cured under ultraviolet (UV) rays after printing. Uniaxial compression experiments were conducted to assess the compressive modulus and strength of these lightweight structures. The compressive behavior of TPMS structures was also predicted using finite element analysis (FEA). Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was used to compare the behavior of these structures at different temperatures. UV-cured samples exhibited improved thermo-mechanical characteristics. The primitive structure had the highest compressive strength among other structures. FEA also revealed the stress concentration areas for each sandwich structure. The DMA findings indicate that TPMS sandwich structures demonstrate significantly reduced storage modulus compared to solid structures. A numerical investigation was performed to understand the heat exchanger application of TPMS structures. The velocity profile, temperature, and pressure distributions were observed for the Primitive heat exchanger. The results of this investigation provide valuable information regarding the enhanced structural and thermal characteristics of these structures manufactured using vat photopolymerization.

This research investigates the development and characterization of mechanical properties in two materials, employing triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS) at varying relative densities. The primary focus is on the design of TPMS structures to emulate the biomechanics of the heel pad, guided by equiaxed cells and Cartesian mapping. To achieve the desired densities and understand their influence on mechanical properties, solid-void boundary equations, volume preservation techniques, and cell wall ramping were utilized to create gradient models. Mechanical behavior was rigorously assessed through both uniaxial and cyclic compression testing, including responses under repetitive loading conditions. A key aspect of the study involved the examination of different TPMS cell shapes and their impact on mechanical properties. The results reveal that the 50A material within the specified density range effectively approximates the desired stiffness of the heel pad, albeit with some deviations from Ashby-Gibson model predictions. Among the TPMS structures, diamond configurations exhibited the highest stiffness and energy absorption, while Split-P, Lidinoid, and Gyroid structures demonstrated intermediate performance. Schwarz structures exhibited the lowest performance metrics. These findings underscore the potential of additively manufactured TPMS structures in diverse applications, including biomechanics, orthopedic prosthetics, energy absorption, protective equipment for impact mitigation, flexible soft robotics, and the creation of tailored materials with minimal waste. The research contributes to the field of engineering mechanics and properties of hyper-elastic TPMS designs, opening up avenues for innovative applications across various domains.

This thesis focuses on the use of biomolecular assemblies for creating materials with novel properties. Several aspects of biomimetic materials have been investigated, from fundamental studies on membrane shaping molecules to the integration of biomolecules with inorganic materials. Triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS) are mathematically defined surfaces that partition space and present a large surface area in a confined space. These surfaces have analogues in many physical systems. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) can form intricate structures and it acts as a replica for the wing scales of the butterfly C. rubi, which is characterized by electron microscopy and reflectometry. It was shown to contain a photonic crystal and an analogue to a TPMS. These photonic crystals have been replicated in silica and titania, leading to blue scales with replication on the nanometer scale. Replicas analyzed with left and right handed polarized light are shown be optically active. A macroporous hollow core particle was synthesized using a double templating method where a swollen block copolymer was utilized to create polyhedral nanofoam. Emulsified oil was used as a secondary template which gave hollow spheres with thin porous walls. The resulting material had a high porosity and low thermal conductivity. The areas of inorganic materials and functional biomolecules were combined to create a functional nanoporous endoskeleton. The membrane protein ATP synthase were incorporated in liposomes which were deposited on nanoporous silica spheres creating a tight and functional membrane. Using confocal microscopy, it was possible to follow the transport of Na+ through the membrane. Yop1p is a membrane protein responsible for shaping the ER. The protein was purified and reconstituted into liposomes of three different sizes. The vesicles in the 10-20 nm size range resulted in tubular structures. Thus, it was shown that Yop1p acts as a stabilizer of high curvature structures. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Submitted. Paper 4: Submitted. Paper 5: Submitted.</p>