Surface Morphology, Compressive Behavior, and Energy Absorption of Graded Triply Periodic Minimal Surface 316L Steel Cellular Structures Fabricated by Laser Powder Bed Fusion

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is an emerging technique for the fabrication of triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structures in metals. In this work, different TPMS structures such as Diamond, Gyroid, Primitive, Neovius, and Fisher–Koch S with graded relative densities are fabricated from 316L steel using LPBF. The graded TPMS samples are subjected to sandblasting to improve the surface finish before mechanical testing. Quasi-static compression tests are performed to study the deformation behavior and energy absorption capacity of TPMS structures. The results reveal superior stiffness and energy absorption capabilities for the graded TPMS samples compared to the uniform TPMS structures. The Fisher–Koch S and Primitive samples show higher strength whereas the Fisher–Koch S and Neovius samples exhibit higher elastic modulus. The Neovius type structure shows the highest energy absorption up to 50% strain among all the TPMS structures. The Gibson–Ashby coefficients are calculated for the TPMS structures, and it is found that the C(2) values are in the range suggested by Gibson and Ashby while C(1) values differ from the proposed range.