Mapping internal deformation fields in 3D printed porous structure with digital volume correlation

Abstract As a new manufacturing technology, 3D printing is gradually attracting more interest in both the academic community and the industrial field. To realize its full potential in engineering applications, it is necessary to characterize the mechanical behaviors and properties of 3D printed materials and structures under external loading. Although surface deformation of 3D printed materials has been extensively investigated, the 3D internal deformation measurement and further mechanical analysis using digital volume correlation (DVC) gain less attention in the field of 3D printing. In this work, step-wise uniaxial compression tests of a 3D printed porous structure were first performed in combination with in-situ X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging. Then, the global and local evolutions of internal full-field deformation at different compressive stages were evaluated via DVC technique. Finally, a multiscale experimental framework was presented to correlate mechanical properties with geometric structure of the 3D printed porous structure. On this basis, the failure patterns along with the possible damage mechanism were predicted and discussed.