Ultralight, ultrastiff mechanical metamaterials

Abstract

In this study, a new class of materials is reported that show unique material properties such as
an almost constant stiffness per unit mass density. This is contrary to what is commonly
observed in nature where the mechanical properties are poor at low densities. The new class
of

materials

are

made

using

manufacturing

process

known

as

projection

microstereolithography. This process is combined with a coating technique which is done at

the nanometer scale. The new materials or meta-materials show 3 orders of magnitude
properties higher than ordinary materials.

Introduction
Many materials are found in nature that are highly mechanically efficient. However, as the
density decreases, the mechanical properties also become poorer. For instance, the Youngs
modulus of low-density silica aerogels [1-2] decreases to 10 kPa (0.00001% of bulk) at a
density of less than 10 mg/cm3 (<0.5% of bulk). Some other examples are graphene
elastomers, metallic microlattices, carbon nanotube foams, and silica aerogels [3-5]. This loss
of mechanical performance occurs due to the fact that most natural and engineered cellular
solids show a quadratic or stronger scaling relationship between Youngs modulus and
density as well as between strength and density.

In this study, a group of ultralight mechanical metamaterials are reported that maintain a
nearly linear scaling between stiffness and density spanning three orders of magnitude in
density, over a variety of constituent materials. The term mechanical metamaterials is used
to refer to materials with certain mechanical properties defined by their geometry rather than
their composition.

Specification and fabrication of materials

The materials obtained in this research have an ordered, isotropic structure with a facecentered cubic architecture. The lattice forming the materials has dimensions ranging from
~20 m down to ~40 nm. The densities of the samples produced in this work ranged from
0.87 kg/m3 to 468 kg/m3, corresponding to 0.025% to 20% relative density. The unit cell is
designed so as to withstand stretching rather than bending. It satisfies the Maxwells criterion
which is given as M = b 3j + 6 > 0. A fundamental lattice building block of this type is the
octet-truss unit cell (Fig. 1A), whose geometric configuration was proposed by Deshpande et
al. [6]. The cell has a regular octahedron as its core, surrounded by eight regular tetrahedra
distributed on its faces.

Fig. 1 Architecture of stretch-dominated and bend-dominated unit cells and lattices.

(A) Mechanical response to compressive loading of a stretch-dominated octet-truss unit cell.
(B) Octet-truss unit cells packed into a cubic microlattice. (C) SEM image of a stretchdominated lattice material composed of a network of octet-truss unit cells. (D) Mechanical
response to compressive loading of a bend-dominated tetrakaidecahedron unit cell. (E)
Tetrakaidecahedron unit cell packed into a cubic bend-dominated lattice (Kelvin foam). (F)
SEM image of a bend-dominated lattice composed of a network of tetrakaidecahedron unit
cells.

The samples prepared in this work were analyzed, fabricated, and tested them in a variety of
orientations. In addition, they were fabricated in a range of densities. The fabrication of these
microlattices is enabled by projection microstereolithography, a layer-by-layer additive
micromanufacturing process capable of fabricating arbitrary three-dimensional microscale
structures [7-8]. This type of fabrication technology is ideal for 3D lattices with high
structural complexity and with feature sizes ranging from tens of micrometers to centimeters.
By combining projection microstereolithography with nanoscale coating methods, 3D lattices
with ultralow relative densities below 0.1% were created.

The apparatus in this research uses a spatial light modulatorin this case a liquid-crystal-onsilicon chipas a dynamically reconfigurable digital photomask. A three-dimensional CAD
model is first sliced into a series of closely spaced horizontal planes. These two-dimensional
image slices are sequentially transmitted to the reflective liquid-crystal-on-silicon chip, which
is illuminated with UV light from a light-emitting diode array. Each image is projected
through a reduction lens onto the surface of the photosensitive resin. The exposed liquid
cures, forming a layer in the shape of the two-dimensional image, and the substrate on which
it rests is lowered, reflowing a thin film of liquid over the cured layer. The image projection
is then repeated, with the next image slice forming the subsequent layer.

Results
The resulting hollow-tube microlattices have alumina thicknesses from ~40 to 210 nm, with
an example shown in Fig. 2, D and H, with corresponding material weight density ranging
from less than 1 kg/m3 to 10.2 kg/m3. The microstructured mechanical metamaterials were
tested to determine their Youngs modulus E and uniaxial compressive strength y, defined as
the crushing stress of the material. Uniaxial compression studies of all microlattices with the
same cubic dimensions were conducted on an MTS Nano Indenter XP, equipped with a flat

punch stainless steel tip with a diameter of 1.52 mm. During 20 consecutive compression
cycles up to 10% strain, typical viscoelastic behavior for the polymer microlattices was
observed with pronounced hysteresis and loading ratedependent Youngs modulus. The
Youngs moduli for all polymer microlattices and foams were extracted at a loading rate at
87.2 nN/s, corresponding to a strain rate of 103 s1.
When an ultralow-density metallic microlattice is bend-dominated, its stiffness degrades
substantially with reduced density. The metamaterials obtained in this research, in contrast,
maintain their mechanical efficiency over a broad density regime without substantial
degradation in specific stiffness, owing to the nearly linear E- scaling relationship. It was
shown that these high mechanical efficiencies are possible across a range of constituent
materials. Using these findings, new materials can be designed for critical applications in
many fields such as aerospace design for hypersonic transport, spaceships for habitation in
MARS etc.
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