Experimental and numerical investigation on compressive fatigue strength of lattice structures of AlSi7Mg manufactured by SLM

Micro-lattice materials represent nowadays a great opportunity for developing new ultra-lightweight materials. Design flexibility and multi-functional properties make them attractive for several applications in automotive, medical, space, aerospace and process industries. Predict fatigue resistance of these micro-structures is a key issue. In this work three different unit cells printed by a Selective Laser Melting process with an AlSi7Mg powder were analysed. Static properties and fatigue strength in compression have been studied by means of different experimental and numerical techniques: experimental tests, Digital Image Correlation, Micro-Computed Tomography and Finite Element analysis. Total fatigue life has been divided in three stages: ratcheting, damage initiation and propagation in one or few struts leading to final failure. The experimental results show that the initial ratcheting strain rate is significantly correlated to the life of each sample. The damage maps show that, even at fatigue limit, crack propagation in one or few struts is expected to occur. The effect of defects and local irregularities on the fatigue strength has been studied by means of finite elements models based on the as-manufactured geometry of the samples and on the definition of an equivalent stress amplitude based on a multiaxial high cycle fatigue criterion. A correlation between broken struts and maximum values of local equivalent fatigue stress amplitude has been demonstrated by post-test tomographies.