Advanced Development for Defense Science and Technology

Lattice Block Materials, or LBM for short, are a class of materials comprised of an open structure of ligaments arranged in a regular truss like structure that is three dimensional. A basic unit cell is comprised of a square based pyramid skeleton (just the corners, called nodes, and the edges, called ligaments). These cells are connected in all directions to form a larger lattice like structure that is a block of material. The “parent material” is the name for the material that the LBM is actually made of. Parent materials for LBM can be almost any injection molding plastic, most metals, and some ceramics. We have devised a method for casting LBM that requires no pattern whatsoever. What we propose to develop is essentially a complex form of sand-casting. We make the mold by filling space with triangular prisms that have matching half channels on their surfaces that form the LBM lattice. This could also be done smaller with investment casting cores. This would eliminate the need for patterns in both sand casting and investment casting and yield something between the two.