# Geometric and Compressive Characteristics of the Additive-Manufactured Rhombicuboctahedron Structure and Its Application

## TL;DR

This paper studies a rhombicuboctahedron structure made with 3D printing, showing it can be strong yet lightweight for practical applications like stable stacking.

## Contribution

The novelty lies in demonstrating the mechanical reliability and scalability of rhombicuboctahedron structures for additive manufacturing applications.

## Key findings

- Increasing unit cells keeps specific compressive strength nearly constant.
- Thicker struts improve compressive strength, specific compressive strength, and elastic modulus.
- Thickest structures show progressive densification without abrupt stress drop.

## Abstract

In this study, the geometric and compressive characteristics of a rhombicuboctahedron architecture fabricated by material extrusion were investigated. The compressive results showed that increasing the number of unit cells led to the specific compressive strength remaining nearly constant. In contrast, as the strut thickness increased, the structures exhibited higher compressive strength, specific compressive strength, and elastic modulus. In particular, the thickest configuration exhibited no premature fracture or abrupt stress drop, instead demonstrating a progressive densification behavior with continuously increasing stress. Furthermore, a pallet prototype was fabricated to demonstrate practical feasibility. The non-cubic, recessed geometry of the rhombicuboctahedron units enabled geometric interlocking between stacked pallets, increasing surface-induced friction and contributing to enhanced stacking stability and anti-slip performance. These results demonstrate the potential of rhombicuboctahedron architectures as lightweight, scalable, and mechanically reliable structural elements for compression-dominated applications enabled by additive manufacturing.