Mechanical behavior of CuZrAl metallic glass scaffolds fabricated by selective laser melting

•F2BCC lattices with straight struts exhibit the highest strength and ∼ 45° shear fracture at 5.4 % strain.•The fracture mode of F2BCC lattices with curved struts is dominated by axial cracks at 13 % strain.•The curved struts significantly improve the compressive ductility and energy absorption of F2BCC by more than 100 %. Selective laser melting (SLM) was used to manufacture the CuZrAl metallic glass (MG) scaffolds containing body-centered cubic and face-centered cubic combined lattices (F2BCC) with straight and curved struts, and the effects of the lattice structures on the mechanical behavior were examined. The findings show that the curved struts significantly improve the compressive ductility by 122 % and the energy absorption by 106 %. The curved struts can effectively prevent catastrophic shear fracture and delay the fracture – mainly due to the relief of strain concentrations. The results from this work prove that it is possible to effectively improve the ductility and toughness of SLM MG components by designing a suitable lattice structure.