AccScience Publishing / MSAM / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/MSAM026190039
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Effect of lattice interlocking geometry on curing distribution and tensile performance in metal–polymer hybrid structures fabricated by powder bed fusion and vat photopolymerization

Min-Seong Ko1,2 ,  Do-Sik Shim1,2*
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1 Department of Ocean Advanced Materials Convergence Engineering, College of Engineering, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Busan, Republic of Korea
2 Department of Interdisciplinary Major of Ocean Renewable Energy Engineering, College of Graduate School, Korea Maritime and Ocean University, Busan, Republic of Korea
MSAM, 026190039 https://doi.org/10.36922/MSAM026190039
Received: 4 May 2026 | Revised: 12 June 2026 | Accepted: 22 June 2026 | Published online: 15 July 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Metal–polymer hybrid structures can be fabricated by integrating powder bed fusion (PBF) and vat photopolymerization (VPP) additive manufacturing, in which a photopolymer is infiltrated and cured within metal lattice structures through extended UV exposure. This study examines how the lattice interlocking geometry influences local curing behavior and the tensile performance of hybrid structures. Four lattice geometries, simple cubic (SC), face-centered cubic (FCC), body-centered cubic (BCC), and pyramid, were comparatively investigated. Indirect curing enabled polymer solidification within optically shielded lattice regions, but the curing level decreased with increasing distance from the incident surface, resulting in geometry-dependent microhardness distributions. Tensile behavior also depended strongly on lattice geometry: FCC and BCC showed the highest maximum loads of 1,115 and 1,111 N, respectively, whereas SC and pyramid exhibited lower values of 834 and 742 N, respectively. Fracture observations indicated that FCC and BCC promoted more tortuous crack paths through inclined or diagonal struts, while SC and pyramid provided less favorable fracture routes and lower resistance. These results show that lattice geometry governs the tensile performance of PBF–VPP metal–polymer hybrid structures by influencing both curing distribution and fracture path.

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Keywords
Vat photopolymerization
Powder bed fusion
Metal–polymer hybrid structures
Mechanical interlocking
Tensile behavior
Funding
This work was supported by the Korea Research Institute for Defense Technology Planning and Advancement (KRIT) grant funded by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) (KRIT-CT-23-007) and the Korea Basic Science Institute (National Research Facilities and Equipment Center) grant funded by the Ministry of Education (grant No. 2022R1A6C101B738). Additional support from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) under grant number RS-2024- 0034616660282063490101, funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, is gratefully acknowledged.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Materials Science in Additive Manufacturing, Electronic ISSN: 2810-9635 Published by AccScience Publishing
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