Additively manufactured lattice structures enable lightweight components with tailorable mechanical response, but their performance is often governed by strut-scale manufacturing effects rather than nominal geometry. In this study, the compressive behavior of chiral auxetic lattice structures fabricated from AlSi10Mg by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is investigated using a statistically designed experimental approach. A replicated full-factorial design of experiments is employed to quantify the individual and combined effects of linear energy density, scan strategy, stress-relief heat treatment, and sand blasting on stiffness, strength, energy absorption, and effective Poisson’s ratio. Compression testing combined with digital image correlation reveals distinct deformation modes ranging from brittle, layer-wise collapse to ductile, bending-dominated behavior. The results show that linear energy density and heat treatment primarily control the strength–ductility balance, while scan strategy significantly influences stiffness, energy absorption, and auxetic response through its effect on internal cohesion and deformation localization. In contrast, surface post-processing by sand blasting has only a minor impact compared to LPBF processing parameters. These findings highlight the strong coupling between LPBF process parameters, post-processing, and mechanical response in chiral lattice structures and underline the need for geometry-specific parameter selection when designing auxetic metamaterials for lightweight and energy-absorbing applications.
Maurer et al. (Fri,) studied this question.