On the competition for ultimately stiff and strong architected materials

TL;DR

This paper explores the design space of architected materials, analyzing how microstructure choices influence stiffness and strength, and introduces interpolation schemes for optimizing load-bearing microstructures.

Contribution

It provides higher order interpolation schemes for effective stiffness and buckling strength of microstructures, aiding in the design of ultimate load-carrying architected materials.

Findings

Plate lattice structures have higher stiffness and strength but are prone to buckling at low volume fractions.

Truss lattice structures may be optimal for stiffness and strength in certain regimes.

Microstructural design significantly impacts the load-carrying capacity of architected materials.

Abstract

Advances in manufacturing techniques may now realize virtually any imaginable microstructures, paving the way for architected materials with properties beyond those found in nature. This has lead to a quest for closing gaps in property-space by carefully designed metamaterials. Development of mechanical metamaterials has gone from open truss lattice structures to closed plate lattice structures with stiffness close to theoretical bounds. However, the quest for optimally stiff and strong materials is complex. Plate lattice structures have higher stiffness and (yield) strength but are prone to buckling at low volume fractions. Hence here, truss lattice structures may still be optimal. To make things more complicated, hollow trusses or structural hierarchy bring closed-walled microstructures back in the competition. Based on analytical and numerical studies of common microstructures from the literature, we provide higher order interpolation schemes for their effective stiffness and (buckling) strength. Furthermore, we provide a case study based on multi-property Ashby charts for weight-optimal porous beams under bending, that demonstrates the intricate interplay between structure and microarchitecture that plays the key role in the design of ultimate load carrying structures. The provided interpolation schemes may also be used to account for microstructural yield and buckling in multiscale design optimization schemes.