Design, Additive Manufacturing, and Compression Response of a Novel Triply Periodic Interlaced Surface (TPIS) Meta-Material

Prior to the advances in Additive Manufacturing (AM), cellular materials were primarily either honeycombs or foams, with their design possibilities constrained by manufacturability. However, in the last two decades, AM has enabled beam-based lattices, surface-based TPMS structures and a wide range of novel design ideas for meta-materials such as interpenetrating and interwoven lattices. In this work, we propose a new class of meta-materials derived from a form we term Triply Periodic Interlaced Surface (TPIS), which are inspired by TPMS geometries in their functional origins but are interlaced in a manner similar to basket weaving. We demonstrate the parametric design of these meta-materials and use Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) to fabricate them, followed by testing under compression. Results show that the TPIS structures hold promise for their ability to achieve high compliance at high relative densities, with the potential for application in energy absorption, piezoelectric sensing and energy harvesting.