Nature‐Inspired Lightweight Cellular Co‐Continuous Composites with Architected Periodic Gyroidal Structures

Abstract

Shell-core cellular composites are a unique class of cellular materials, where the base constituent is made of a composite material such that the best distinctive physical and/or mechanical properties of each phase of the composite are employed. In this work, the authors demonstrate the additive manufacturing of a nature inspired cellular three-dimensional (3D), periodic, co-continuous, and complex composite materials made of a hard-shell and soft-core system. The architecture of these composites is based on the Schoen's single Gyroidal triply periodic minimal surface. Results of mechanical testing show the possibility of having a wide range of mechanical properties by tuning the composition, volume fraction of core, shell thickness, and internal architecture of the cellular composites. Moreover, a change in deformation and failure mechanism is observed when employing a shell-core composite system, as compared to the pure stiff polymeric standalone cellular material. This shell-core configuration and Gyroidal topology allowed for accessing toughness values that are not realized by the constituent materials independently, showing the suitability of this cellular composite for mechanical energy absorption applications.

Compressive Properties and Energy Absorption Characteristics of Co-Continuous Interlocking PDMS/PLA Lattice Composites

“…The specimen label, filler, strut diameter, mass and density are shown in Table 1 . Compared with the specimens made by Al-Ketan et al [ 25 , 27 , 28 ], Wang et al [ 26 ] and Mansouri et al [ 29 ], the specimens in this study avoided the filler anisotropy caused by 3D printing. Compared with the specimens made by Wang et al [ 21 ], the specimens in this study show fewer defects due to the longer infiltration time.…”

3D printed architected lattice structures by material jetting

“…While multi-material TPMS [69,119], or auxetic reinforced composites [120], approached high-performing elastomers. Graded TPMS lattices [129] achieved Young's modulus close to foams at less density values, as shown in Fig. 12 (A).…”

Circumventing brittleness of 3D‐printed Al 2 O 3 cellular ceramic structures via compositing with polyurea

“…6, C/CCS30, B/CCS30, C/CCS40, and B/CCS40 were capable of dissipating energy of (1.71 ± 0.39), (4.86 ± 0.74), (1.89 ± 0.37) and (6.54 ± 0.94) MJ·m −3 in compressive process, which were 56, 159, 36 and 124 times of energy‐absorbing ability of corresponding CCSs. The remarkable energy‐absorbing ability of polyurea/CCS interpenetrated composites was ascribed to the extended plateau stage resulting from introduced polyurea [30, 31]. Furthermore, it is concluded from Figs.…”