Cellular Structures
Cellular structures are tall installations equipped with antennas and other technologies to facilitate wireless communicat-
STOP… not that cellular structure. BAD CHATGPT.
I feel like I saw this image in my tenth grade biology textbook. Shoutout to Ms. Bohanon. Thanks for putting up with me.
You can almost make out the nucleus, the vacuoles, the golgi bodies. Strong cell membrane. Made of phospholipids, obviously. Oh, and the mitochondria. Did you think I really forgot the powerhouse of the cell?
What you’re seeing here is a high magnification image of a cross section of 316 stainless steel. The specimen was produced by laser powder bed fusion and cross section along the XY plane (Z is build direction). The thing resembling an animal cell in the center is a small segment of a singular laser melt.
But this post isn’t actually about the animal cell looking thing or mitochondria. Although, I will take any excuse to flex my memory of high school bio. I want to talk about cellular structures - materials science edition. Let’s try this again, shall we?
Hey CHATGPT, give me 3 sentences on cellular structures in additive manufacturing microstructures for my blog post.
In additive manufacturing, cellular structures within microstructures are formed due to the rapid cooling and solidification processes inherent in techniques like Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF). These fine, lattice-like formations can enhance mechanical properties by improving the material's strength-to-weight ratio and energy absorption capabilities. Understanding and controlling these cellular structures are crucial for optimizing the performance and reliability of additively manufactured components.
Zoomed in snip of the above image (top right quadrant of our favorite animal cell).
I’m talkin bout these bad boys. The tiny honeycomb lookin guys- they’re really neat! They are the result of rapid solidification. We’re talkin RAPID-rapid. Rapider than the crunch wrap supreme you had for lunch re-congealed in your stomach. Roughly 10,000 degrees Celsius per second. Fast. Ricky Bobby fast.
They’re basically just really tiny grains within grains. They are damn near nano-dimensional sub grai-
WRONG.
What? Why Chat?
Cellular structures in additive manufacturing differ from nano grains or sub grains primarily in their formation and scale. While nano grains and sub grains are smaller subdivisions of the crystalline structure typically formed through specific thermal or mechanical treatments, cellular structures arise due to the unique rapid solidification and cooling rates in additive processes, creating a distinct, often dendritic, pattern. These cellular structures are not simply grains within grains but rather a distinct microstructural feature that can influence mechanical properties differently than traditional grain structures.
Ohhh, ok. So maybe I misspoke a bit. But the all caps, bold-face WRONG. was pretty rude, chat.
The cellular structures you see here present as grains within grains, but sub-grains and nanograins have their own definition. Damn you scientific nomenclature. The ones I have presented here, cellular structures, are pretty unique to additive manufacturing.
