from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
TiNi alloy, also known under the commercial name Nitinol, is one of the best known shape memory alloys. Currently, there are many studies related to the possibility of obtaining this alloy using additive manufacturing technologies, especially selective laser melting. Some of these studies are devoted to the issue of obtaining lattice structures with different topology from TiNi alloy. Such structures could potentially find application in the medical field, as implants for various purposes. TiNi alloy has a sufficiently low modulus of elasticity, close to the elasticity modulus of a bone structures. In these works, it is assumed that the topology and porosity of the lattice structure of the TiNi alloy, produced by the selective laser melting method, influences the mechanical properties of the alloy. For a more complete analysis of this phenomenon, the presented research work was carried out. In this work, computer modelling of unit cells and full-fledged TiNi alloy lattice structures was carried out. Several strut based unit cell topologies were selected and modelled. Further, a volumetric lattice structure on the basis of the unit cell topologies was modelled and its mechanical properties were calculated. The modelling process is implemented with ANSYS 2019 R2 SpaceClaim finite element analysis package. The results of the work confirmed the presence of the influence of the unit cell topology on the mechanical properties of the TiNi alloy.
Keywords: TiNi, nitinol, computer simulation, lattice structure, mechanical properties© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.