Design, fabrication, and characterization of hierarchical mechanical metamaterials

  • Jian SONG , 1,2 ,
  • Junfei YAN 1 ,
  • Bengang YI 1
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  • 1. Automotive Engineering Research Institute, BYD Auto Industry Co., Ltd., Shenzhen 518000, China
  • 2. College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
dfsongjian2006@126.com

Received date: 18 Jul 2023

Accepted date: 12 Nov 2023

Copyright

2024 Higher Education Press

Abstract

Natural mechanical materials, such as bamboo and bone, often exhibit superior specific mechanical properties due to their hierarchical porous architectures. Using the principle of hierarchy as inspiration can facilitate the development of hierarchical mechanical metamaterials (HMMs) across multiple length scales via 3D printing. In this work, we propose self-similar HMMs that combine octet-truss (OCT) architecture as the first and second orders, with cubic architecture as the third or more orders. These HMMs were fabricated using stereolithography 3D printing, with the length sizes ranging from approximately 200 µm to the centimeter scale. The compressive stress–strain behaviors of HMMs exhibit a zigzag characteristic, and the toughness and energy absorption can be significantly enhanced by the hierarchical architecture. The compressive moduli are comparable to that of natural materials, and the strengths are superior to that of most polymer/metal foams, alumina hollow/carbon lattices, and other natural materials. Furthermore, the flexural stress–strain curves exhibit a nonlinear behavior, which can be attributed to the hierarchical architecture and local damage propagation. The relatively high mechanical properties can be attributed to the synergistic effect of the stretch-dominated OCT architecture and the bending-dominated cube architecture. Lastly, an ultralight HMM-integrated unmanned aerial vehicle (HMM-UAV) was successfully designed and printed. The HMM-UAV is ~85% lighter than its bulk counterpart, remarkably extending the flight duration time (~53%). This work not only provides an effective design strategy for HMMs but also further expands the application benchmark of HMMs.

Cite this article

Jian SONG , Junfei YAN , Bengang YI . Design, fabrication, and characterization of hierarchical mechanical metamaterials[J]. Frontiers of Mechanical Engineering, 2024 , 19(1) : 3 . DOI: 10.1007/s11465-023-0776-9

Nomenclature

Abbreviations
BCCBody center cubic
FDMFused deposition modeling
FEFinite element
HMMHierarchical mechanical metamaterial
HMM-UAVHMM-integrated unmanned aerial vehicle
MTSMaterial testing system
OCTOctet-truss
SLAStereolithography
SLMSelective laser melting
STLStandard Tessellation Language
TPLTwo-photon lithography
UAVUnmanned aerial vehicle
Variables
bWidth of the sample
CCorrelation coefficient
dThickness of the sample
DDeflection at the center of the sample
EEffective Young’s moduli of the HMMs
EbEffective Young’s moduli of base material
FLoad recorded by the force transducer
lLength of each strut
LSupport span length
σEffective stress of the HMMs
σbEffective stress of the base material
εFlexural strain
ρDensity of the HMMS
ρb Density of the base material
RStrut diameter
R¯Equivalent strut diameter

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51905350).

Electronic Supplementary Material

The supplementary material can be found in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-023-0776-9 and are accessible to authorized users.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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