Team Members & Role:
- James Fagan – Team Lead
- Anthony Butler – Design Lead
- Peter Beigel – Analysis Lead
- Joseph Dowd – Fabrication Lead
- Lucas Crenshaw: Evaluation Lead
Abstract:
The focus of this project was to test whether certain printable SLM structures can attenuate vibrational frequencies that many aerospace components are subjected to with the intention of extending the cycle life of these components. These structures have been broken into triply periodic unit cells to be arranged into lattice structure grids as test specimens. Additionally, these unit cells are enclosed in an outer wall to allow for unsintered printing powder to be left inside and entrapped with the hopes that during vibrations the internal powder friction will help dampen these vibrations. This entrapped powder is the main focus of the project as it is very hard to simulate what these powders are going to do inside the enclosure. Inspiration for our designs came from natural crystal structures and from research into triply periodic minimal surfaces. We are still doing research into the specifics of how to actually print our current designs, and they are continually evolving to meet new knowledge of SLM printing best practices. Once printed our full-scale prints will be experimentally tested using a vibration table with various accelerometers to find their vibrational tendencies
