An uncuttable foam

Abstract

Materials Science Designing structures across many different length scales provides flexibility in optimizing for certain properties. Szyniszewski et al. created a new material, called Proteus, that is highly deformable yet resistant to cutting. Proteus consists of ceramic spheres embedded in aluminum foam to accomplish this unique property pairing. The authors show that this multiscale material is resistant to the extreme loads of angle grinders, power drills, and even water jet cutters. The underlying design principles should be useful for developing other architected materials for a range of applications. Sci. Rep. 10 , 11539 (2020).