Effect of Compression Rate and Pore Size Distribution on the Compression Behavior of Additively Manufactured Bio-inspired Fe3Si Microporous Material

In the present investigation, the influence of compression rate and pore size distribution on the compression behavior of additively produced Fe3Si microporous specimens is analyzed. The specimens with uniform and graded porosities are created using computer-aided design and manufactured through laser powder bed fusion techniques. Both the uniform microporous and graded microporous specimens demonstrate the same average porosity of 70%. The sole distinction between the two specimen categories lies in the distribution of pore sizes. The uniform porosity and graded porosity Fe3Si specimens reveal four distinct regions in the compression force–displacement curves. The transition between the elastic and plastic regions is noted to be either smooth or abrupt. At lower strain rates (0.0001 s^-1), the energy absorbed per unit mass is greater for the uniform Fe3Si microporous specimens. Conversely, at higher strain rates (0.1 s^-1), the energy absorbed per unit mass is greater for the graded Fe3Si microporous specimens. The uniformly porous Fe3Si specimens exhibit a higher plateau force compared to the graded porosity Fe3Si specimens. A delayed onset of densification in uniform porosity specimens is observed in comparison with graded porosity specimens. The compression velocity is noted to influence the deformation behavior of the uniformly porous specimens but not the graded porosity specimens.