Dynamic behavior of concurrently printed functionally graded closed cell foams

Abstract

In this work, functionally graded foams (FGFs) of closed cell types are three-dimensionally printed (3DP) concurrently. These closed cell syntactic foams are manufactured by reinforcing 20, 40, and 60 vol% hollow glass microballoons (GMBs) in the high density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix and are investigated for their mechanical buckling and free vibration response. The critical buckling load (P<inf>cr</inf>) of the FGFs are evaluated using the Double Tangent Method (DTM), Modified Budiansky Criteria (MBC), and Vibration Correlation Technique (VCT). It is observed that P<inf>cr</inf> evaluated by all three methods are in good agreement. Among all FGFs, FGF-2 exhibited higher buckling strength with 22–26% higher than FGF-1 and FGF-3. Under no-load and uniaxial compressive loads, the first three natural frequency of FGFs and their corresponding damping factors are evaluated. At first mode, the natural frequency of FGFs decreases in the pre-buckling zone and started increasing in the post-buckling zone. Damping factor exhibited reverse trend compared to the trend shown by the natural frequencies. Among all FGFs, FGF-2 (20-40-60 GMB gradation) exhibited better natural frequency. Experimental results are compared with a finite element based simulation results. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd