Table 2 Deviations between simulated or designed and fabricated strut diameters across various inclination angles in a Ti–6Al–4V complex lattice (Fig. 5a)

From: Laser powder bed fusion of complex metal lattice metamaterials: a structurally robust holistic design approach

Strut inclination

θ = 0°

0° < θ < 30°

30° ≤ θ < 60°

60° ≤ θ < 90°

θ = 90°

Strut number

272

417

1272

110

30

FE-based strut diameter (μm)

1250

1208

839

324

200

Measured strut diameter* (μm)

1286 ± 58

1240 ± 41

919 ± 37

362 ± 34

236 ± 48

  1. *Ten individual struts from each group were measured at both ends and the middle using ImageJ software to approximate the mean diameters of the as-fabricated struts from each group. This was done by placing the lattice sample in an SEM at different angles and comparing it to the CAD model to determine the inclination angle of each selected strut. An alternative sampling approach could involve analyzing a fixed percentage of each group of strut samples, such as 10%, resulting in three samples at 90° and 27 samples at 0°.