This study investigates the mechanical responses in three-point bending and compression of body-centered cubic (BCC) for specific aerospace applications to achieve lightweight and improved mechanical properties. The mechanical characteristics of functionally graded BCC lattice structures were explored, resulting in enhanced mechanical features compared with uniform-graded BCC lattice structures. Due to the gradient lattice structure, the average bending load significantly increased to 62.5%. It was found that the BCC lattice structure only exhibits a dual failure model comprising buckling and fracture, compared with other lattice structures that often offer sole buckling or fracture failure. The buckling of the struts starts from the bottom and ends with a fracture. BCC lattice sandwiches provide an opportunity to balance strength and weight ratio effectively. The experimental findings showed close agreement with finite element results. Numerical modeling illustrates the stress–strain and force–deformation curves, and the failure mechanism is the strut buckling triggered from the plastic hinges with high-stress levels.

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has revolutionized the production of intricate geometries tailored to customized functional mechanical properties, making it widely adopted across various industries, including aerospace, automotive, and biomedical sectors. However, the fabrication of mechanical springs has remained largely constrained by conventional manufacturing techniques, which limit their cross-sectional geometries to regular shapes, thereby restricting their mechanical performance and energy absorption capabilities. This limitation poses a significant challenge in applications where enhanced load-bearing capacity, energy absorption, and tailored stiffness characteristics are required. To address this issue, this study investigates the influence of coil shape on the mechanical properties of wave springs, specifically focusing on load-bearing capacity, energy absorption, stiffness, and compression behavior during cyclic loading and unloading. Nine contact-type wave springs with distinct coil shapes—square, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, octagonal, quadro, circular (4 waves per coil), and circular (6 waves per coil)—were designed and fabricated using MultiJet Fusion (MJF) technology. Uni-axial compression testing was conducted over ten loading–unloading cycles to evaluate their mechanical performance and deformation characteristics. The results indicate that wave springs with square and rectangular coil shapes exhibit the highest energy absorption while maintaining the lowest stiffness and minimal energy loss during the first ten loading–unloading cycles. Furthermore, experimental findings were validated using finite element analysis (FEA) under identical boundary conditions, demonstrating close agreement with a deviation of only 2.3% compared with the experimental results. These results highlight AM’s potential for customizing wave springs with optimized mechanical performance.