Compressive properties of parametrically optimised mechanical metamaterials based on 3D projections of 4D geometries

Abstract

The design process of 3D mechanical metamaterials is still an emerging field and in this paper, we propose for the first time, a new design and optimisation approach based on 3D projections of 4D geometries (4-polytopes) and evolutionary algorithms. We find that through iterative parametric optimisation, 4-polytope projected mechanical metamaterials can be optimised to achieve both high specific stiffness and high specific yield strengths. Samples manufactured using a low-stereolithography method were tested in compression. We find that optimised tesseracts (8-cell structures) had a higher specific yield strength (22.8 kN m/kg) than that of honeycomb structures tested out-of-plane (19.4 kN m/kg) and a specific stiffness of (0.68 MN m/kg) which is more than 3-fold that of gyroid structures. The compressive strength to solid-modulus ratio of the 8-cell tesseract is very high (3×10−3), exceeding that of out-of-plane honeycombs, which are themselves closer in value to 5-cell pentatopes (2×10−3). 8-cell and 5-cell structures are in the region of one order of magnitude higher than 16-cell and 24-cell structures (∼2×10−4–8×10−4) and are hence comparable to nanostructured metamaterials. The 8-cell tesseracts are 18% stiffer, 43% stronger, and 19% tougher in compression than out-of-plane honeycomb structures, but unlike honeycombs, 8-cell tesseracts are 3D structures with cubic symmetry. Architecture has a profound effect on the relative consistency of properties with cubically symmetric structures displaying the greatest levels of consistency in terms of both strength and stiffness reduction as a function of pore space. The results presented in this paper showcase the potential of this new class of mechanical metamaterial based on 3D projected 4-polytopes.