Lattice Guide Ebook 01.24.2022
Lattice Guide Ebook 01.24.2022
Lattice Guide Ebook 01.24.2022
Handbook
The Complete Guide to Creating High-Performance Products with Lattices
Updated 01.24.2022
© 2022 Carbon, Inc. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents Overview 1 5.3 Choosing Strut Diameter: Direct Relationship 18
Introduction 2 5.4 Choosing Cell Size: Inverse Relationship 19
Part Geometry 20
1: Carbon Design Engine™ 3 Small Feature Sizes 21
1.1 What is Carbon Design Engine? 3 Resin Feature Size Recommendations 21
1.2 Why Carbon Design Engine? 4 Performance 21
2: Benefits of a Lattice 5 Weight 22
2.1 Lattice Application Potential 6 Conformity 23
Energy Return and Support 6 Pattern 23
Energy Absorption and Impact 6 Post-Processing Considerations 23
Comfort and Fatigue Control 6 6: Additional Lattice Design Features 24
Functional and Flexible 7 6.1 Offset (Pro) 24
Thermal Management 7 6.2 Multi-Zones (Pro) 25
Lightweighting 7 6.3 Apply Feature Edges (Pro) 27
Aesthetics 7 6.4 Apply a Base 27
3: Key Design Software Considerations for 8 6.5 Trim 28
Real-World Lattices 6.6 Boundary Strut Diameter (Pro) 29
3.1 Conformality 8 6.7 Enable Symmetry 29
3.2 Customizable Performance via Inverse Design 9 6.8 Enable Isotropy 29
3.3 Functional, Multi-zonal Lattices 9 6.9 Surface Tolerance (Pro) 29
3.4 Cloud Processing 9 6.10 Sides Per Strut (Pro) 30
6.11 Combine and Boolean Geometry Ops 30
4: Understanding Lattice Parameters 10
7: Lattice File Preparation 31
4.1 Material 10
4.2 Lattice Type or Pattern 10 Conclusion: The Infinite Capabilities of Lattices 32
4.3 Strut Diameter 11
4.4 Cell Size 11
5: Selecting Optimal Lattice Parameters For Your 12
Part
5.1 Choosing Material: Resin Selection 13
5.2 Choosing Lattice Type: Pattern Selection 17
By the end, you will be able to design the best lattice parts for your product so you can take
your product development to the next level.
If you are interested in experiencing lattice parts designed with Carbon Design Engine™
software and printed with the Carbon Digital Light Synthesis™ (Carbon DLS™ process),
request sample parts by reaching out to us at [email protected].
At Carbon, we believe that lattice-generation software should 1) make it easy for engineers
to tap into the full potential of unmoldable lattice geometries enabled by 3D printing, and 2)
eliminate the extra time and effort required by existing solutions. As experts in lattices, we
look forward to sharing our lattice-design best practices and key software considerations
“Traditional CAD tools have not kept pace with the innovation of 3D that we believe should be readily available to all product designers and engineers.
printers and materials. This lack of progression limits the ‘idea to design’
stage of the product development lifecycle… On average, it can take 18–24
months to bring a consumer product to market. But when we put the best
design tools, 3D printers, and materials in the hands of designers and
manufacturers, we’ve seen our customers accelerate the development
of innovative new products—going from idea to finished designs to
production in less time.”
The concepts in this guide are general and apply to most software packages that can
generate lattices, but they're written with Carbon Design Engine in mind.
With Design Engine’s powerful cloud- Designing lattices can require tedious, Before you click generate, Design Engine Carbon Design Engine is a core lattice-
based computation, you can generate manual work that is prone to errors saves you time and helps you tune your design technology used in real-world,
advanced conformal lattices in minutes. that can significantly impact part design by accurately predicting material production parts today. Offering deep
Pair Design Engine with Carbon’s 3D performance. Carbon Design Engine savings and mechanical responses as you integration with Carbon’s best-in-class
printers and you’ll go from idea to printed automatically resolves lattice features, experiment with different lattice designs. materials and reliable, consistent 3D
part in just a few hours. both large and small, and cuts down printing platform, Design Engine makes
on development time by accurately producing end-use lattices simple.
predicting mechanical performance
when lattices are printed with Carbon’s
industry-leading materials.
Do you have a project that would benefit from a high-performance conformal lattice? We
can give you a demo of Carbon Design Engine or help you find a Carbon Production Net- Request a Demo Get Your Part Latticed
work partner that can work with you to develop your design.
Energy Return and Support Energy Absorption and Impact Comfort and Fatigue Control
adidas 4DFWD, Futurecraft 4D, and Riddell® Speedflex Diamond Helmet Specialized S-Works Power Saddle
AlphaEdge 4D
Printed midsoles on high performance running shoes created 3D-printed protective padding in professional football helmets Multi-zone lattices on bike saddles developed with pressure
with adidas' proprietary lattice design. uses multi-zone lattices to control impact forces. mapping data for optimal comfort zones.
3D-printed COVID-19 testing swabs with a single-zone lattice, Unlike foam, which can retain heat and become Printed lattice designs can reduce overall mass and Lattice temple cushions that are flexible,
developed in just 20 days. The lattice is merged with a solid uncomfortable, elastomer lattices are breathable by material cost. breathable, and comfortable––preventing slippage
handle and is printed in KeySplint Soft® Clear. means of natural air circulation, which can be especially during active movements and adding a unique
powerful in athletic applications. design aesthetic.
3.1 Conformality
Non-Conformal Conformal
With traditional design software, structural and performance breakdown is a common A conformal lattice fully adapts to its assigned shape along its outer surfaces and edges,
problem with lattices. The structure of the lattice is usually cropped at the edges and filling every curve without breaking structural integrity. Some lattice design software
surface of the design space, breaking the integrity of the structure. will generate non-conformal lattices and allow you to adjust them manually to become
conformal, but this is a tedious, error-prone manual process.
Each lattice type has two patterns that may visually emerge on the surface. The difference
in the patterns is a result of where the lattice is in its 3-dimensional structure upon reaching
the boundaries of the design space.
Compressive Strain
Two dimensional variables affect the compressive strain of a lattice, which affects how
compressible or stiff the lattice performs: strut diameter and cell size.
EPU 40 EPU 41
EPX 82 CE 221
Carbon
EPU 40 EPU 41 CE 221 EPX 82 RPU 70 RPU 130
Materials
Energy/ Energy Energy Low Impact Moderate Low Impact High Impact
Impact Absorption Return Impact
KAGOME
Linear Response
Consistent response to strain
Lightweighting (high stiffness to mass ratio)
VORONOI
Energy Return
Springy cushioning
Stress distribution
Additionally, each lattice type has a unique stress-strain curve that will influence ICOSAHEDRAL
the performance of a part. When combined with a material, Carbon Design Engine Foam-like Response
Response plateaus after initial strain (like foam)
software will generate a hybridized stress-strain curve, demonstrating the performance
Lightweighting (high stiffness to mass ratio)
characteristics of both material and lattice.
Unlike strut diameter, where the resin largely dictates a range of recommended
dimensions, cell size selection will depend on several key factors:
• Desired performance
If your part does not have any distinct features: If your part has one dominating feature: If your part has multiple or variable feature
sizes/wall thicknesses:
• Main cell size: ~¾ of smallest XYZ dimensions • Min cell size: ~¾ of smallest feature
• Min cell size: ~¾ of smallest feature
• Min cell size: 1/1 of main cell size • Main cell size: up to 4x min
• Main cell size: 1x, 2x, 4x, or 8x min cell size,
whichever is closest to and below the max
Performance
Cell size has an inverse relationship with compressive strain.
Carbon Design Engine software offers an analyze cell feature that presents a volume
fraction graph to help you estimate the total weight of your part.
• Map your strut diameter (x-axis) and cell size (y-axis) on the graph to find the volume
percentage the lattice will use.
• Calculate the weight with the estimated volume and density of the material (available
on the technical data sheet).
• Greater than 60% is difficult to wash and may be clogged with excess resin.
Cell size selection in the Design Engine allows for choosing the main cell size, while also
selecting a min cell size, so that the surface can conform more closely to the boundaries
of the design space.
By selecting a min cell size (1/2, 1/4, or 1/8 of the main), you can keep the bulk of the
lattice less dense, but allow a tighter conformity at the surface.
Post-Processing Considerations
Design with post-processing in mind. If you experience problems removing uncured
material from the inside of your lattice, try a larger cell size.
For example, rhombic lattices absorb energy and serve well in high-
impact conditions. If a high-impact lattice is wearable, you may
also want a lattice type that performs well for comfort, such as
tetrahedral. Multi-zone lattices allow you to achieve both goals.
Before defining separated zones, start by singularly defining the design space so your The zones transition past their boundaries to create the most efficient structure between
software can understand the external boundaries of the part to be latticed. This single differing lattice parameters. The results, therefore, do not have a sharp transition that may
design space will be the Boundary mesh. be expected when picturing each zone latticed separately.
Break up the part into zones that require different performance specifications.
For example:
Zone 1 - a highly compressible area - large cell size
Zone 2 - a stiff, structural area - small cell size
Without a base, the platform-facing surface of the lattice just lightly touches the platform
at each strut, which will likely lead to under-adhesion. Applying a base extrudes the cross
section of the struts down to Z-zero.
Multi-zone parts with differing strut diameters can create an uneven surface that may be
intended to be flat. Applying a base can be an effective method to even out the surface.
The Trim feature removes all material outside the edges of the boundary mesh, leaving
half of the strut size. If the boundary mesh is a hard boundary, the trim feature provides
an option.
The best surface tolerance results balance pattern uniformity at the surface with depth
Note: In the perimeter zone, the surface struts change while the of pattern.
interior struts remain unchanged at the smaller 0.5-mm diameter.
Learn More
What if you could unlock over a quadrillion new product design possibilities and then
produce your product immediately, with an optimized design that meets your exact
specifications before your first prototype? And then scale production into the thousands,
tens of thousands, or millions, depending on your needs?
That’s our vision at Carbon: give product creators in every industry the ability to unlock
high-performance designs that advance the state of their art. We hope Carbon’s latticing
knowledge and capabilities inspire you and provide a path forward for innovation in design,
rapid development, better product performance, and dependable production.
We look forward to making this possible and embarking on this lattice journey with you.
Interested in experiencing a real-world lattice produced with the Carbon DLS 3D printing Learn more about Carbon Design Engine latticing capabilities here.
process and Carbon Design Engine? Request a free sample part here.