The effect of build orientation on the mechanical properties of a variety of polymer AM-created triply periodic minimal surface structures

The advancements achieved in additive manufacturing (AM) have substantially transformed the design process of functional components. The change simplifies the fabrication of triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structures, whose unique geometric characteristics have garnered interest from numerous industries, including automotive, architecture, aerospace, and biomedical engineering. However, there is a scarcity of research in the literature about the investigation of the tensile mechanical properties of build orientation during the AM process of polymer-based TPMS. The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of three different types of TPMS structure and build orientations on the mechanical qualities of test specimens fabricated using masked stereolithography (MSLA) and a commercially accessible gray resin. Furthermore, the objective of the research was to determine the optimal TPMS pattern type and construct orientation in order to improve both elongation and ultimate tensile strength (UTS). A dog bone-shaped specimen was used for an experimental evaluation of their tensile properties. The test region was occupied by three different TPMS structures, namely the Gyroid (G), Schwarz Primitive (P), and Schwarz Diamond (D). The results showed that across all three building orientations, the D-shaped component produced the highest UTS, and the P-shaped component produced the largest elongation. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) results for UTS revealed that shape significantly influenced UTS by 83.11%, outweighing the 7.42% impact of construct orientation on UTS. Similarly, the ANOVA for elongation at break shows that build orientation (17.84%) had a substantially lower impact than shape (75.08%).