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AbstractWith the advent of additive manufacturing, lattice structures have been of increasing interest for engineering applications involving light‐weighting and energy absorption. Several studies have investigated mechanical properties of various lattices made up of mostly unreinforced polymers and lack numerical analysis for reinforced lattice structures. In this paper, mechanical response of short fiber reinforced lattice structures under compression is investigated through experiments and numerical simulations. Three different 2D lattices namely, square grid, honeycomb, and isogrid along with their rotated counterparts were fabricated using 15% wt carbon fiber‐acrylonitrile butadiene styrene and experimentally evaluated through uniaxial compression testing up to 30% strain. As simulations on fiber‐reinforced lattices under large compressive strains are rarely performed and published, finite element models accounting for fiber orientation induced anisotropic mechanical properties and geometrical imperfections were developed to predict the stress–strain characteristics up to 30% compressive strains. The stress–strain curves predicted from the numerical simulations matches well with the experimental responses for various lattice geometries. Various failure mechanisms such as thin strut buckling, contact within the lattice, and fracture of struts under large deformation were investigated. Analyzing energy absorption characteristics of these lattices revealed that the honeycomb structures in horizontal configuration exhibits superior energy absorption capability.

Metal polymer composites combining low density, high strength composites with highly ductile and tough metals have gained traction over the last few decades as lightweight and high-performance materials for industrial applications. However, the mechanical properties are limited by the interfacial bonding strength between metals and polymers achieved through adhesives, welding, and surface treatment processes. In this paper, a novel manufacturing process combining additive manufacturing and compression molding to obtain hybrid metal polymer composites with enhanced mechanical properties is presented. Additive manufacturing enabled deposition of polymeric material with fibers in a predetermined pattern to form tailored charge or preform for compression molding. A grade 300 maraging steel triangular lattice is first fabricated using AddUp FormUp350 laser powder bed system and compression overmolded with additively manufactured long carbon fiber-reinforced polyamide-6,6 (40% wt. CF/PA66) preform. The fabricated hybrid metal polymer composites showed high stiffness and tensile strength. The stiffness and failure characteristics determined from the uniaxial tensile tests were correlated to a finite element model within 20% deviation. Fractographic analyses was performed using microscopy to investigate failure mechanisms of the hybrid structures.