Analysis of the Mechanical Behavior of Tree-like Fractal Structures in SLM-Manufactured Components.

Tree-like fractals as internal structures are a novel alternative to conventional lattice structures for mechanical components produced via Selective Laser Melting (SLM). This study explores the mechanical behavior of tree-like fractals, targeting flexure tests on SLM test samples manufactured using two distinct fractal configurations. The main objective is to develop numerical models that can predict the effect of the branching angle on the stress-strain curves, for both fractal configurations, from experimental flexure tests. A polynomial regression model is proposed to predict mechanical response variations based on fractal geometry, and the prediction model provides acceptable errors, less than the natural variance of multiple experiments. Furthermore, the tree-like fractal samples showed an interesting behavior on the flexure test, where the fractals deformed uniformly and in a predictable pattern, enabling mechanical advantages in impact absorption applications.