Lattice structures for engineering applications are patterns of unit cells designed to make a larger functional structure. Research on lattice structures ranges in many fields, from mechanical characterization and cell and pattern designs in respect of their applications, to the manufacturing process and its final shape control. From the manufacturing point of view, some kinds of lattice structures can be infeasible when approached with traditional manufacturing methods. It may offer an inevitable limitation of their adoption. However, advancements in Additive Manufacturing (AM) have solved this manufacturing issue to a great extent, allowing to obtain major complexity of the cells that can be achieved. The topology, shape of the unit cell, and the characteristics of its replication pattern allow us to obtain many kinds of structures in respect of the different engineering requirements and manufacturing constraints. Nevertheless, the necessity of new or dedicated CAD-CAE approaches arises to manage the domains of multiscale modeling. These are some of the advantages and disadvantages that may arise while approaching the design of a component using lattice structures. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview that integrates the most recent applications of lattice structures with their related design and manufacturing issues so that, from a practical design point of view, any state-of-the-art improvements may be established in respect of the related field of applications. In this article, engineers and researchers may find a practical summary of the capabilities and processes of lattice structures that are currently available from a design and development point of view.

We present the first continuous operation in a surface lab of BULLKID, a detector for searches of light Dark Matter and precision measurements of the coherent and elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. The detector consists of an array of 60 cubic silicon particle absorbers of 0.34 g each, sensed by cryogenic kinetic inductance detectors. The data presented focusses on one of the central elements of the array and on its surrounding elements used as veto. The energy spectrum resulting from an exposure of 39 h to ambient backgrounds, obtained without radiation shields, is flat at the level of $$(2.0\pm 0.1\,\mathrm{stat.}\pm 0.2\,\mathrm{syst.})\times 10^6$$( 2.0 ± 0.1 stat . ± 0.2 syst . ) × 10 6 counts/keV kg days down to the energy threshold of $$160\pm 13$$160 ± 13 eV. The data analysis demonstrates the unique capability of rejecting backgrounds generated from interactions in other sites of the array, stemming from the segmented and monolithic structure of the detector.

For the past few decades, topology optimization (TO) has been used as a structural design optimization tool. With the passage of time, this kind of usage of TO has been extended to many application fields and branches, thanks to a better understanding of how manufacturing constraints can achieve a practical design solution. In addition, the advent of additive manufacturing and its subsequent advancements have further increased the applications of TO, raising the chance of competitive manufacturing. Design for additive manufacturing has also promoted the adoption of TO as a concept design tool of structural components. Nevertheless, the most frequent applications are related to lightweight design with or without design for assembly. A general approach to integrate TO in concept designs is still missing. This paper aims to close this gap by proposing guidelines to translate design requirements into TO inputs and to include topology and structural concerns at the early stage of design activity. Guidelines have been applied for the concept design of an inner supporting frame of an ancient bronze statue, with several constraints related to different general design requirements, i.e., lightweight design, minimum displacement, and protection of the statue’s structural weak zones to preserve its structural integrity. Starting from the critical analysis of the list of requirements, a set of concepts is defined through the application of TO with different set-ups (loads, boundary conditions, design and non-design space) and ranked by the main requirements. Finally, a validation of the proposed approach is discussed comparing the achieved results with the ones carried out through a standard iterative concept design.

In Automotive and Aerospace industries, Topology Optimization (TO) is being used for the last few decades to produce lightweight structures. On the other hand, TO produces very complex geometrical features (i.e. irregular shape and hidden cavities along the thickness) that is sometimes difficult to be manufactured even with Additive Manufacturing (AM) and Casting techniques. In this paper suitable design and manufacturing constraint (MC) are applied during TO process that act as an Optimization Tool (OT) and improves geometrical features of the mechanical structures for easy manufacturing. Three mechanical structures with different geometries and boundary conditions have been considered for analysis purpose. Topology Optimization based on linear static analysis has been performed using OptiStruct (HyperWorks) solver. Finally, results of analysis conclude that the proposed OT produces lightweight structures with very simple geometries that can easily be manufactured with the help of AM or Casting techniques.

In automotive, the use of heavy structure leads to high consumptions of fuel and resulting high exhaust (CO2) emissions. To curb this problem, nowadays, the conventional steel used for years in automotive structures is being replaced with other different lightweight materials such as aluminum, magnesium, glass fiber-reinforced polymer, carbon fiber-reinforced polymer, titanium, and so on. On the other hand, compared to the known steel properties and performances, these lightweight materials offer challenging issues related to life cycle, recycling, cost, and manufacturing. But, more than sometimes, reaching the same levels of performances with materials different from steel present huge difficulties. This represents the cause of researching strategies and techniques to optimize the material distribution and the performances of a component, saving material and consequently reducing weight. This article reports a procedure oriented to a smart distribution of material (conventional steel) in the automotive structure by employing topology optimization (TO) in the early concept design stage to produce a lightweight structure. In this research work, student formula car frame is taken as a case study and its novel design is presented as a sheet metal structure rather than a pipe structure. This case study is analyzed in accordance with 2017/2018 Formula SAE Rules, which implies multiple load cases for testing and validation of the student formula car frame design. OptiStruct solver is used for the numerical simulation of density-based TO (following SIMP approach and linear static analysis). After the numerical analysis, it is concluded that the mass of the student formula car frame and CO2 emissions are successfully reduced by 68.42% and 5.98 g/km, respectively.