Scientia Iranica, vol.29, no.5 B, pp.2362-2373, 2022 (SCI-Expanded)
Nowadays, the application of lattice structure designs in metallic parts to produce lightweight systems has gained higher importance owing to advances in additive manufacturing technology. In the meanwhile, vehicle manufacturers are constantly looking for new ways to reduce the weight resulting from the depletion of fossil fuels, demand for vehicles with higher performance, global warming, and increasingly stringent emission standards. Different lattice designs were made in the connecting rods in this study to reduce the weight of the internal combustion engine. Four different 2.5D lattice designs, i.e., hexagonal, octagonal, square, and triangular designs, were created on the reference connecting rod body. The dimensions of the lattice designs were 10 × 10 × 12 mm with the wall thickness of 1.5 mm. The fatigue behavior of the connecting rods as well as mechanical properties under static conditions were analyzed using the finite element approach. Three different materials were used in AISI 4140, Inconel 718, and Ti6Al4V analyses. It was found that a 15.75% weight reduction was made possible in the case of connecting rod owing to the lattice designs, and the maximum stress value was below the yield stresses of the materials. According to the findings, connecting rods with lattice design yielded satisfactory safety factor values.