Structural Optimization via 3D Printing Technology Using NPR Materials

3D printing technology is now the trendiest term in engineering in general and advanced structural design engineering in particular. Finding structures with optimum geometry and materials that fit the technologies above is difficult. This study presents an approach to creating a hybrid structure by combining Rhino Grasshopper and Karamba3D to replace the hybrid structure reinforced with hard particles presented in Ref. (Tee in Jom 72:1105–1117, 2020 [3]). The proposed hybrid structure is improved from the honeycomb structure by the Galapagos optimization algorithm, one of Rhino Grasshopper's optimization plugins. It considers the properties of materials with a Negative Poisson Ratio (NPR). These material properties were established based on the formulas presented in Sect. 3 using the Karamba3D parametric design tool. The tensile stress–strain curve demonstrates the optimal hybrid structure efficiency compared with the sample without the reinforcement and the two samples with the reinforced hard grain with different printing orientations in 3D printing technology. This demonstration was established using ABAQUS finite element software with the Arruda-Boyce material model for polymer materials.