2021/11/12 by Eliezer Fernando Oliveira, Oliveira, Eliezer F., Rushikesh S. Ambekar +5
Engineering · #Cellular and Composite Structures #Advanced Materials and Mechanics #Bone Tissue Engineering Materials
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2111.06641
Nature-occurring structures exhibiting unique topological features such as\ncomplex and gradient porosity has been the basis to create new materials and/or\nstructures. Most studies have been focused on complex periodic porous\nstructures but gradient porous ones have not been yet fully investigated for\nstable structural designs. In this work, we have proposed and tested a new\napproach to create cellular griding structures, in which the mass density\nvaries from the center to the borders, i.e, a radial gradient. To create these\nnew structures we exploited the topology of two carbon-based families with\ndifferent pore sizes, the schwarzites, and schwarzynes. We created fully\natomistic models that were translated into macroscale ones that were then 3D\nprinted. The mechanical behavior of the gradient structures was investigated by\nmolecular dynamics simulations and mechanical compression tests of the printed\nmodels. Our results show that their mechanical response can be engineered (for\ninstance, in terms of energy absorption, ballistic performance, etc.) and can\noutperform their corresponding density uniform structures.\n