Additive manufacturing and viscoelasticity evaluation of Bézier metamaterials fabricated via vat photopolymerization

Abstract

The advent of additive manufacturing has benefited the fabrication of mechanical metamaterials as these often make use of complex geometries for demanding applications. However, the characterization of the effective mechanical properties of additively manufactured metamaterials is of great value prior their incorporation in any application. Nowadays, their mechanical characterization is focused, primarily, on elastic static loading scenarios. In this work, the viscoelasticity of novel metamaterials with various lattice topologies and their constituent material was evaluated by means of experimental measurements. The lattice metamaterials were design using Bézier curves to form their constituent elements and fabricated using flexible resin via vat photopolymerization. The creep compliance of these Bézier lattices was compared to that of a square lattice, observing a reduction as the curvature of the constituent element increased. Overall, the results presented here demonstrate that the viscoelastic properties of a structured media can be altered not only by modifying the constituent material, but also by adjusting the material arrangement within the structure.