Journal of Computational & Applied Research in Mechanical Engineering (JCARME)

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia

² Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia

https://doi.org/10.22061/jcarme.2026.113094.2832

Abstract

The increasing demand for strong, lightweight, and thermally efficient battery casings in electric vehicles has accelerated the exploration of additive-manufactured sandwich structures. This research examined how shell thickness and infill density jointly affect the impact strength, mass, and thermal conductivity of sandwich-structured Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol specimens produced via fused filament fabrication. A factorial experimental design was used, varying shell thickness (400, 800, and 1200 µm) and infill density (20, 50, and 80%). Two-way Analysis of Variance was applied to analyze the data statistically. The results revealed that shell thickness significantly influenced all three responses (p ≤ 0.05), increasing impact strength by approximately 53% and thermal conductivity by approximately 31% as shell thickness increased from 400 to 1200 µm, at the cost of a nearly 35% increase in mass. Infill density strongly affected mass and thermal conductivity, increasing thermal conductivity by approximately 127% and mass by approximately 63% from 20% to 80% infill, but had a negligible effect on impact strength (p > 0.05). Then, fractography analysis revealed distinct failure modes and validated the meso-structure's role in mechanical and thermal performance. Applying desirability function-based multi-response optimization, the best configuration was determined to be a 1200 µm shell thickness paired with 50% infill density, predicting an impact strength of 28.57 kJ/m², thermal conductivity of 3.09 W/m·K, and mass of 3.34 g. This study provides a strategy for producing lightweight, impact-resistant, and thermally efficient additive-manufactured sandwich structures for potential electric vehicle battery casing applications.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

Main Subjects

Manufacturing Processes

References

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Journal of Computational & Applied Research in Mechanical Engineering (JCARME)

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 13 September 2026

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