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Citation: Jiang, Huan, Ziegler, Hannah, Zhang, Zhennan, Meng, Han, Chronopoulos,
Dimitrios and Chen, Yanyu (2020) Mechanical properties of 3D printed architected
polymer foams under large deformation. Materials & Design, 194. p. 108946. ISSN 0264-
1275

Published by: Elsevier

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2020.108946
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2020.108946>

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 Materials and Design 194 (2020) 108946

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Materials and Design

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matdes

Mechanical properties of 3D printed architected polymer foams under

large deformation
Huan Jiang a,1, Hannah Ziegler a,1, Zhennan Zhang a, Han Meng b, Dimitrios Chronopoulos b, Yanyu Chen a,⁎
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292, USA
b
Institute for Aerospace Technology & The Composites Group, The University of Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

• A new type of architected polymer foam

composed of spherical shell and beam
connector is designed, 3D printed, and
tested.
• The architected polymer foam exhibits a
bending-dominant behavior with an ex-
ponent of 2.2 in the scaling law.
• The stiffness of architected foams can
increase about one order of magnitude
by tuning the shape of beam connectors.
• The printing process can be used to en-
gineer the deformation pattern and fail-
ure modes.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: We report a new type of three-dimensional architected polymer foams composed of perforated spherical shells
Received 9 May 2020 and flat strut connectors, which can be precisely produced by 3D printing techniques. We investigate the effects
Received in revised form 30 June 2020 of foam architectures, manufacturing process, and constitutive material on the deformation patterns and failure
Accepted 30 June 2020
modes of the proposed architected foams. We demonstrate that flat strut connectors offer unprecedented design
Available online 15 July 2020
flexibility for controlling the mechanical performance. By tuning the geometric parameter of flat strut connectors,
Keywords:
the stiffness of architected foams can increase about one order of magnitude while the relative density increases
Foam only by 5%. Furthermore, the failure modes can be engineered from a catastrophic one to a progressive one by
3D printing using weak flat strut connectors. Our experiments elucidate the salient roles of the layer-by-layer manufacturing
Architected material process and constitutive polymer on the mechanical behavior of the proposed architected foams.
Printing direction © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license
Strain rate (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Large deformation

1. Introduction are characterized by their low density and high strength to weight
ratio, making them ideal for aerospace, biomedical, semiconductor,
Continuous efforts are being made to develop lightweight materials and automotive industries. Foam is a rapidly evolving lightweight struc-
with improved stiffness, strength, and energy absorption properties for tural material, which exhibits high specific strength, exceptional energy
a variety of multifunctional applications [1–3]. Lightweight materials absorption, damping, and thermal properties [1,4–10]. Open-cell foams
are characterized by the network of interconnected open pores, while
⁎ Corresponding author.
closed-cell foams are the combination of individual cells separated by
E-mail address: yanyu.chen@louisville.edu (Y. Chen). thin membranes [11–15]. Closed-cell foams have underperformed com-
1
These two authors contributed equally to this work. pared to initial predictions due to defects that significantly reduce

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2020.108946
0264-1275/© 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
2 H. Jiang et al. / Materials and Design 194 (2020) 108946

mechanical properties [16,17]. In addition, disconnected individual cells significant effects on mechanical properties, deformation patterns, and
also limit their applications. By contrast, open-cell foams have shown fa- failure modes of the architected foams.
vorable mechanical properties under compression [18,19]. Further-
more, the high volume of interconnected porosity and large surface 2. Materials and methods
area make open-cell foams attractive in various applications [20–22].
Conventional foams have porosity randomly distributed within the 2.1. Model design and 3D printing
material, taking inspiration from naturally occurring cellular structures
such as bone and wood [12]. The internal geometry of random foam is The proposed APF with a body-centered cubic (BCC) lattice symme-
described by relative density and pore size. The most common fabrica- try consists of perforated spherical shells and flat strut connectors (Fig. 1
tion method for random metal foam is powder metallurgy [18,23–27]. (a) and (b)). The lattice constant of the representative volume element
This technique allows for adjustable pore sizes between 0.3 and 5 mm, (RVE) is a. Fig. 1 (c) shows the one-eighth of the RVE. Perforated spher-
and relative densities between 9% and 30%. Additionally, powder metal- ical shell is characterized by external radius R, thickness t, and perfora-
lurgy allows for flexible material selection and is commonly used for tion radius r. Flat strut connector is described by length l, height h, and
steels, titanium, nickel, and copper. However, there are also drawbacks fillet radius b, or a single parameter, binder angle θ. The binder angle θ
to this method. Bonds between sintered spheres are weak, meaning cut- is schematically shown in Fig. 1(c). In our design, the length, l, height
ting the desired shape from a sintered slab of material is challenging. It h, and fillet radius b can be equivalently expressed by R and θ. The rela-
is difficult to achieve complex geometries or smooth edges when cut- tive density of the proposed APF can be calculated as
ting specimens [23]. Samples can also be molded into the desired
pffiffiffi!3 8 pffiffiffiffiffiffi "  2 #32
shape before sintering. However, this method decreases sample poros- ρ 6 3 <168 21π 21 2t t
ity and alters the shape of hollow spheres, potentially weakening the ¼ −8π − þ
ρs 25 : 125 25 R R
specimen [25]. Notably, the stochastic nature of these random foams
could degrade mechanical performance in uncontrollable ways. "  2  3 #  2
16π 3t t t 2π 25 25
Architected materials with well-defined structures can be exploited − −3 þ þ tanθ þ 1− g
to achieve tailored and unprecedented mechanical properties and func- 3 R R R 3 24 24 cosθ
 3
tionalities. Two-dimensional (2D) and two-dimensional (3D) t
þc ð1Þ
architected materials have been produced by using additive R
manufacturing to explore the effect of unit cell geometry and connectiv-
ity on mechanical performance [28–34]. For example, numerical and ex- pffiffiffi
perimental studies found that hybrid honeycomb structures possessed where the relation between Rand a is assumed as R ¼ 6 3a=25. The ra-
superior energy absorption compared to traditional honeycombs. Cou- dius of the perforation is set as r = 2R/5. The binder correction coeffi-
pling between failure of the two lattice designs and localized fracture re- cient is defined as the correction of the volume of binder because the
sulted in sustained plateau stress for increased energy absorption [31]. binder volume cannot be calculated analytically. We calculate πh2l/4
Means of tailoring mechanical performance outside of the traditional as the first part of binder volume, then use the binder correction coeffi-
method of varying relative density have also been explored for optimiz- cient to correct the rest. c = 0.027 is determined by fitting Eq. (1) from
ing architected polymer structures without increasing weight. For ex- CAD calculations. By changing the spherical thickness t, one can change
ample, higher stiffness was observed in 3D printed polymeric periodic the relative density. By changing the binder angle θ, one can tailor the
structures using selective wall thickening in high-stress regions to shape of flat strut connectors, thereby changing the connectivity
delay collapse. Additionally, it was found that varying porosity can among the spherical shells. In this work, the lattice constant is set as
change the deformation mode from bending to stretch-dominant, a = 25 mm.
resulting in a more favorable structure [29]. Base material selection All samples were 3D printed using Objet260 Connex3 printer
has also been explored for controlling deformation mode and mechan- (Stratasys, USA), with a printing resolution of 16 μm [41,42]. RGD515/
ical properties of octet truss lattices. It was found that a more rigid poly- 531 was chosen as the base material because it is a ductile polymer ma-
mer will produce a stiffer structure with stretch-dominant behavior, terial in the printer. Printing angle is denoted as α and defined as the
while a more compliant polymer will tend toward bending-dominant angle between the build layers and load direction. To vary the printing
due to lower solid material properties [35]. Nodal connectivity has direction, samples were rotated to achieve the desired angle relative
been used as another means of controlling the performance of addi- to the build tray. Once the samples were removed from the build tray,
tively manufactured polymer structures without significantly affecting support material was carefully removed by using waterjet (Stratasys,
weight [30,36]. It was found that pin joints and spherical joints, while USA). After that, a mixed solution of sodium hydroxide and sodium
similar in relative density and elastic behavior, can be selected to pro- metasilicate was prepared in Branson ultrasonic cleaner (Emerson Elec-
duce stretch-dominant and bending-dominant tensegrity-inspired tric, USA) to dissolve the remaining support material on the concave
structures, respectively. More recently, filled 3D printed flexible poly- side of shells. Printed samples with different relative densities and
mer lattice structures have been devised for tailored energy absorption binder angles are shown in Fig. 1 (d) and (e), respectively.
with shape recovery by controlling internal pressure [37]. Architected
polymer foams (APFs) is another type of architected materials that has 2.2. Mechanical testing
gained increasing attention recently. Geometric control in APF facilitates
tailored and simultaneous vibroacoustic control [38,39]. APFs have also Two sets of compression experiments were conducted to determine
demonstrated more efficient energy absorption than metal foams and the impact of geometric parameters, shell thickness and binder angle,
have shown an ability to recover their initial shape after large deforma- on mechanical performance. The effects of 3D printing direction and
tion [40]. Despite these design flexibilities and advanced manufacturing strain rate on mechanical performance were also tested. Specimens
techniques, studies on mechanical response of architected foams under were uniaxially compressed by Instron 5569A mechanical tester
large deformation are quite limited. (Instron, USA) [43]. Load direction was perpendicular to 3D printed
In this work, the mechanical response of 3D printed APFs under large layers for geometry and strain rate testing. Unless otherwise specified,
deformation is studied. By subjecting the polymer architecture to large the compressive extension rate was 2.25 mm/min, corresponding to a
compressive strains (70%), this research determines the energy absorp- compressive strain rate 5 × 10−4s−1. Specimens were loaded until
tion of the foams as well as elastic properties. Geometric parameters, 70% deformation. Specific energy absorption was approximated using
manufacturing process, and constitutive material are found to have midpoint numerical integration as the area under the stress-strain
 H. Jiang et al. / Materials and Design 194 (2020) 108946 3

curve, up to maximum deformation of 70% strain. Prior to testing, 2D 3. Results and discussion
Digital Image Correlation (Correlated Solutions, USA) equipment was
installed to capture deformation patterns and failure modes. 3.1. Effect of relative density

2.3. Finite element simulations Stress-strain curves for relative densities ρ/ρs=13%, 16%, 20%, 25%,
and 31% are shown in Fig. 2 (a). Small deformation response including
Finite element simulations were performed to provide additional in- the elastic region and the first peak stress of each sample is shown in
sights into the deformation mechanisms of the APFs. The dynamic ex- Fig. 2 (b) for clarity. Each stress-strain curve shows an initial peak, cor-
plicit solver with adaptive time-stepping was employed. Two sets of responding to the first failure of each structure. Following the first fail-
models with different binder angles and relative densities were simu- ure, stress reduces, and compression continues. Stress then increases
lated. The geometrical models were meshed with first-order hexahedral until another failure occurs. This failure process continues, as evidenced
and second-order tetrahedral elements. The models with binder angles by multiple peaks in the stress-strain curves until all spheres fracture.
of 10∘ and 30∘ were meshed with 202,000 and 274,000 C3D8 elements, The remaining material is then compressed upon itself, known as densi-
respectively. The model of relative density ρ/ρs = 0.13 was meshed fication, which corresponds to an increase in stress at large strain.
with 217,000 C3D8 elements, and the model with relative density ρ/ Fig. 2 (c)-(d) show contrasting deformation patterns for relative
ρs = 0.31 was meshed with 866,000 C3D10 elements. Mesh conver- density ρ/ρs = 13% and ρ/ρs = 31%, respectively. Deformation of ρ/
gence tests were performed to ensure that the number of elements is ρs = 13% shows a progressive, layer by layer failure. Sequenced failure
enough to capture mechanical response. The bottom face was of layers is also visible in the stress-strain curve, with a peak corre-
constrained in the vertical direction. The top face was applied compres- sponding to each failed layer. Following the failure of all layers, the
sive displacement of 7.5 mm, corresponding to the strain of 0.1. structure is compressed further, and the densification begins, corre-
A user-defined viscoplastic constitutive model was first developed sponding to the rise in the stress-strain curve around εy = 0.55. By con-
to simulate the response of the 3D printed polymer in [44], where the trast, the sample with ρ/ρs = 31% shows catastrophic failure. Stress-
detailed description of implementation was given. In addition, reference strain curve for ρ/ρs = 31% is jagged between εy = 0.1 and 0.6, with
[45] also adopted this model and made it publicly available. In this more extreme and less defined peaks compared to ρ/ρs = 13%. For ρ/
paper, we referred to [45] for this constitutive model. The strain energy ρs = 13%, first layer failure occurs at εy = 0.025, corresponding to
potential for the Arruda-Boyce model is [46]
( !)
1  1 2  11  3  19  4  519 5  K
0 J 2e −1
W¼μ I1 −3 þ 2
I1 −9 þ 4
I1 −27 þ 6
I1 −81 þ 8
I1 −243 þ − ln J e
2 20λL 1050λL 7000λL 673750λL 2 2
ð2Þ

where μ is the initial shear modulus, λL is the limiting network stretch, yield stress of 0.228 MPa. For ρ/ρs = 31%, the first failure occurs much
K0 is the initial bulk modulus, Je is the elastic volume ratio related to later, at εy = 0.079 and yield stress of 6.35 MPa. This can be verified
temperature. I1 is defined as [47] from the second image. When εy = 0.03, the bottom layer completely
failed for ρ/ρs = 13%, while for ρ/ρs = 31% structural integrity is main-
I1 ¼ I 1 J −2=3 ð3Þ
tained. This is because when thickness increased, the specimen tends to
I1 ¼ traceðBÞ ¼ B11 þ B22 þ B33 ð4Þ exhibit brittle behavior, which will absorb more energy in the initial
stage. As the strain increases to 0.65, the specimen with a relative den-
where Bis left Cauchy-Green deformation tensor. The total volumetric sity of 31% collapses while specimen of 13% still shows structural integ-
ratio J can be described as rity. This phenomenon can be attributed to the progressive failure
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi mode. By contrast, the model of 31% experiences a catastrophic failure
J¼ detðBÞ ð5Þ mode during compression.
The mechanical properties, including stiffness, strength, and energy
absorption for the APFS, are summarized in Fig. 3. Stiffness is plotted
If thermal effect is not considered, Je = J.
against relative density on a log-log scale and fitted with a power
The effective shear strain rate can be determined through
curve (Fig. 3(a)). It is found that relative stiffness is related to relative
equation [46]
density by an exponent of 2.2, indicating a bending-dominant deforma-
 σ 5=6 
ΔG e tion behavior. This implies that, for this architecture, varying relative
γ_ ¼ γ0 exp −
p
1− ð6Þ
κΘ s density is inefficient for controlling stiffness. It should be pointed that
due to the resolution of the printer, we are unable to print the structures
where γ0 is the pre-exponential shear strain rate, s is the thermal shear with relative density under 12%. Nevertheless, our designed structures
yield strength, κ is the Boltzmann's constant, σe is the effective stress, show comparable stiffness with other architected polymer foams
ΔG is the initial free energy change. [36,48,49], and superior to stochastic polymer foam at high relative den-
The rate of shear yield strength for strain-softening is determined sity [41]. Yield strength and energy absorption are shown in Fig. 3
through [46] (b) and (c), respectively. As expected, strength and energy absorption
  increase with the relative density.
s Fig. 4 shows the simulation results for APFs with ρ/ρs = 13% and ρ/
γ_
p
s_ ¼ h 1− ð7Þ
ss ρs = 31% from εy = 0 to 0.1. For ρ/ρs = 13%, there is no apparent peaks
in the stress-strain curves, meaning this APF experiences a more stable
where ss is s at steady state, h is the slope of the strain-softening zone. All
deformation (Fig. 4 (a)). However, for ρ/ρs = 31%, the presence of the
the parameters of this user-defined constitutive model are summarized
distinct peak in the stress-strain curve, corresponding to the uniform
in Table 1. Note that material failure was not considered in all
deformation (Fig. 4 (e)). At the strain of 0.01, simulation contour plot re-
simulations.
veals that stresses are concentrated on the spheres around the binders
4 H. Jiang et al. / Materials and Design 194 (2020) 108946

Fig. 1. Design and 3D printing of 3D APFs. (a) APF foam with 3 × 3 × 3 representative volume elements (RVEs). (b) An RVE of APF. The lattice constant of the RVE is a. (c) Detailed geometric
parameters for perforated spherical shell and flat strut connector. Sphere radius R, sphere thickness t, perforation radius r, binder parameter θ, and fillet radius b. (d) 3D printed samples
with ρ/ρs = 0.13 and ρ/ρs = 0.31. Here a = 25mm, r = 4t, and θ = 20. (e) 3D printed samples with θ = 10∘ and θ = 30∘. Here a = 25mm, t/R = 1/10, and r = 4t. The dashed squares in
(d) and (e) highlight the sphere thickness and size of flat strut connector, respectively.

for ρ/ρs = 13%, which leads to the yield of spheres first (Fig. 4 (b)). 3.2. Effect of binder angle
While for ρ/ρs = 31%, much of the stresses concentrate on the binder.
This indicates the first yield of binders (Fig. 4 (f)). When εy = 0.03, Stress-strain curves for samples with binder angles of 10°, 20°, and
the stresses spread to the spheres, and the spheres in the middle layer 30° are shown in Fig. 5 (a). Each stress-strain curve shows an initial
exhibit buckling for ρ/ρs = 13% (Fig. 4 (c)). However, for ρ/ρs = 31%, peak corresponding to the first failure. Stresses rise and fall for each sub-
the stresses rapidly spread to most of the model and maintain a much sequent failure. Failure continues until all spheres or binders fracture,
higher stress level than that of ρ/ρs = 13% (Fig. 4 (g)). At the strain of and then densification begins. Young's modulus and energy absorption
0.08, the stresses remain fairly similar to that of εy = 0.03 for ρ/ρs = are shown in Fig. 5 (b) and 5 (c), respectively. By increasing binder angle
13%. The spheres show increased buckling, indicating a progressive de- from θ = 10∘ to θ = 30∘, stiffness increases over an order of magnitude,
formation pattern (Fig. 4 (d)). For ρ/ρs = 31%, one however cannot ob- while relative density only increases by 5%. With the ability to vastly in-
serve localized deformation at this stage. Instead, one can see the shear crease stiffness without greatly increasing weight, binder angle is much
deformation of binders (Fig. 4 (h)). This indicates that the failure of more efficient for improving mechanical properties than wall thickness.
binders drives the structure to catastrophic collapse, as confirmed by Fig. 5 (d)-(e) shows contrasting deformation patterns for binder an-
the experiment (Fig. 2 (d)). gles 10° and 30°, respectively. Deformation of θ = 10∘ shows progressive
failure, which can be observed from Fig. 5 (d), similar to ρ/ρs = 0.13 at
θ = 20∘ in Fig. 2 (c). Following layer by layer failure, densification
gradually starts around εy = 0.6. For θ = 30∘, the structure, however,
experiences a catastrophic failure. The stress-strain curve shows less de-
Table 1 fined peaks after εy = 0.2, as evidenced by non-uniform deformation in
Parameters for the user-defined constitutive model. images of εy = 0.25 to 0.65. The first failure of θ = 10∘ occurs at εy =
Material parameters Values 0.039 with a yield stress of 0.075 MPa. By contrast, the first failure of
θ = 30∘ begins much earlier. This can be observed from the second
E(MPa) 1200
ν 0.33 image of Fig. 5 (d) and (e) where the bottom layer of θ = 30∘ fails at
γ0 5.0 × 105 εy = 0.024, while θ = 10∘ remains intact.
ΔG(J) 1.25 × 10−19 Fig. 6 shows the numerical simulation results for APFs with θ = 10∘
s(MPa) 70
andθ = 30∘, respectively. We have calibrated our simulation for the
ss(MPa) 30
h(MPa) 200 model with a relative density of 13%. The calibration reveals that the
μ(MPa) 4.5 simulation result is consistent with the experiment for the printing di-
λL 3.5 rection 90∘ while higher than the printing direction of 0∘. This is because
the mechanical behavior is dependent on printing direction and the
 H. Jiang et al. / Materials and Design 194 (2020) 108946 5

Fig. 2. Effect of relative density on mechanical performance. (a)-(b) Stress-strain relations for different relative densities. (c) and (d) Deformation patterns for ρ/ρs = 0.13and ρ/ρs = 0.31,
respectively. Here a = 25mm, r = 4t,θ = 20∘.

possible imperfections involved during printing. However, the aniso- distribution drives the APF to a catastrophic failure mode, as confirmed
tropic feature and failure are not incorporated in our simulations. It from experiment (Fig. 5 (e)).
should be noted that the purpose of the numerical simulation in this
work is to provide additional information to identify the deformation 3.3. Effect of printing direction
mechanisms. For θ = 10∘, there is no distinct peak on the stress-strain
curve, indicating a stable deformation (Fig. 6 (a)). By contrast, the pres- Stress-strain curves for samples printed at α=0∘, 15∘, 30∘, 45∘, 60∘, 75∘
ence of apparent stress peak for θ = 30∘ indicates a less uniform defor- and 90∘ are shown in Fig. 7 (a). For clarity, stress-strain curves at
mation (Fig. 6 (e)). At the strain of 0.01, it can be observed that the small deformation are in Fig. 7 (b). Fig. 7 (c)-(e) show deformation
stresses concentrate on the binders and part of the spheres around patterns for α = 15∘, α = 45∘, and α = 75∘, respectively. Sample of
binders for θ = 10∘ (Fig. 6 (b)). For θ = 30∘, the stresses concentrate α = 15∘shows progressive failure. The first failure occurs along the
on local spheres around the binders and the stress level is higher than printing direction at εy = 0.027. Failure begins at the top of the structure
that of θ = 10∘ (Fig. 6 (f)). When εy = 0.024, stresses locally concentrate at εy = 0.15, and propagates along the printing direction. This is ex-
on the interface of different layers for θ = 10∘. This leads to yield and pected due to the comparatively weak bonding interface during the
buckling of spheres in the middle layer (Fig. 6 (c)). However, for θ = layer-by-layer fabrication. Then, failure occurs in other layers, but not
30∘, the stresses spread to most of the model from εy = 0.01 to 0.024. sequentially. Finally, well-defined densification can be observed at
This indicates that binder of θ = 30∘ functions much more efficiently εy = 0.6. By contrast, for α = 45∘ and α = 75∘, much more pronounced
to transfer stresses from binder to sphere compared with θ = 10∘. The effect of printing direction can be observed. The first failure occurs at
high-stress transfer efficiency means that a more uniform stress distri- εy = 0.033 and εy = 0.017 for α = 45∘ and α = 75∘, respectively. At
bution can be expected for θ = 30∘ (Fig. 6 (g)). The uniform stress εy = 0.05, both models exhibit apparent fractures along the printing
6 H. Jiang et al. / Materials and Design 194 (2020) 108946

Fig. 3. Effect of relative density on mechanical performance. (a) Stiffness as a function ofρ/ρs. (b) Strength as a function ofρ/ρs. (c) Energy absorption as a function of ρ/ρs. Here a = 25mm,
r = 4t, θ = 20∘.

direction, especially for α = 75∘. When compressed to the εy = 0.15, the weak bonding of the interfaces produced during the manufacturing
sample of α = 45∘ shows a clear shear band of 45∘, followed by the process.
failure along with the shear band. After the shear band fails, the remain- Fig. 8 (a)-(c) show Young's modulus, yield strength, and energy ab-
ing part is compressed until the end of the experiment. For α = 75∘, one sorption of APFs for different printing directions, respectively. It is
cannot observe the shear band as distinct as α = 45∘ at εy = 0.15. How- shown that the stiffness and strength increase with the printing angle.
ever, some parts of the spheres break until disconnected along 75∘. As a From a heuristic point of view, composite ply theory can be applied to
result, samples collapse, and no significant densification can be ob- explain this phenomenon. When loads are parallel to the fibers, the
served at εy = 0.6 for these two cases. Intrinsically, this is attributed to ply is much stronger and stiffer than when loads are transverse to the

Fig. 4. Finite element simulations for the mechanical response of APFs with different relative densities. (a) Simulated stress-strain curve forρ/ρs = 0.13. (b)-(d) Simulated deformation
patterns for ρ/ρs = 0.13. (e) Simulated stress-strain curve forρ/ρs = 0.31. (f)-(h) Simulated deformation patterns for ρ/ρs = 0.31.
 H. Jiang et al. / Materials and Design 194 (2020) 108946
Fig. 5. Effect of binder angle on mechanical performance. (a) Stress-strain relations for θ = 10∘, θ = 20∘, and θ = 30∘. (b) Stiffness. (c) Energy absorption. (d) and (e) Deformation patterns for θ = 10∘and θ = 30∘, respectively. Here a = 25mm, ρ/ρs =
0.13, r = 4t.

7
8 H. Jiang et al. / Materials and Design 194 (2020) 108946

Fig. 6. Finite element simulations for the mechanical response of APFs with different binder angles. (a) Simulated stress-strain curve forθ = 10∘. (b)-(d) Simulated deformation patterns for
θ = 10∘. (e) Simulated stress-strain curve for θ = 30∘. (f)-(h) Simulated deformation patterns for θ = 30∘.

fiber direction. By analogizing the printed layers to fibers, one can ex- strain rate of 0.00001 s−1, however, shows a stable and progressive fail-
plain the increasing trend of stiffness with the printing direction. Energy ure mode. Different from the fragmented collapse of the APF at 0.1 s−1,
absorption is highest for α = 15∘and decreases with increasing α, as fail- no obvious cracks can be seen at εy = 0.03. Failure begins in the middle
ure becomes less stable, untilα = 90∘. layer at εy = 0.07 and continues in other layers. At εy = 0.22, the poly-
mer is well contained within the structure and deformation is visible in
all layers, showing a stable failure mode.
3.4. Effect of loading rate
Stiffness, strength, and energy absorption obtained from stress-
strain curves for strain rates of 0.1, 0.01, 0.001, 0.0005, and
Depending on the applications of APFs, the structure could be sub-
0.00001 s−1 are shown in Fig. 10 (a)-(c), respectively. Two trials were
jected to different loading rates. Five strain rates were tested on the
performed for each strain rate. It is shown that stiffness increases with
same geometry to understand the effect of loading rate on the mechan-
strain rate, but the three lowest rates result in similar stiffness values.
ical response. Stress-strain curves for samples subjected to strain rates
Yield strength is consistent for three lowest strain rates but increases
0.1, 0.01, 0.001, 0.0005, and 0.00001 s−1 are shown in Fig. 9 (a).
at higher strain rates. This indicates that low strain rates do not highly
Stress-strain curves at small deformation are shown in Fig. 9 (b). Multi-
influence the mechanical behavior of APFs. Yield strength for the
ple peaks exist for all stress-strain curves, corresponding to a layer-by-
highest strain rate is over three times that of the lowest strain rate.
layer failure mode. Notably, peaks become increasingly less as the strain
This improved mechanical properties at high loading rates can be attrib-
rate increases. Deformation continues in each structure until all spheres
uted to stiffer molecular chains that are reoriented within the base ma-
break, followed by densification. Fig. 9 (c) and (d) show deformation
terial [50]. Energy absorption is fairly consistent for all strain rates. This
patterns for strain rate of 0.1 and 0.00001 s−1, respectively. Deformation
study provides a preliminary investigation into strain rate dependent
at a strain rate of 0.1 s−1 shows a non-uniform and catastrophic failure.
mechanical performance of 3D printed structures.
The first failure occurs at εy = 0.03, corresponding to yield stress of
0.645 MPa. Failure begins in the middle layer of the specimen. Initial
failure is less uniform throughout the layer than other stable layer fail- 4. Conclusions
ures, resulting in the loss of small fragments. At εy = 0.07, the failed
layer is compressed until another failure occurs due to insufficient We have demonstrated 3D printing and testing of novel architected
time to further absorb energy. At εy = 0.14, the second failure is not foams with engineered mechanical performance. Increasing the relative
contained within one layer of the structure but spans multiple layers density of the structure is inefficient for controlling stiffness, due to the
surrounding the first failed layer. Collapsed spheres create a shear de- bending-dominant behavior. The influence of the binder angle has been
formation band from the bottom left corner of the specimen to the mid- investigated as an alternative for tailoring the effective stiffness of the
dle right. Partial failure of layers results in the continued non-uniform APF. Varying the binder size alters the stress transfer path of the struc-
collapse. The polymer is contained within the initial profile and the ture, rendering the binder angle a more effective parameter for control-
top layer has not fractured for εy = 0.22. The APF compressed at the ling stiffness. In addition to geometric parameters, the manufacturing
 H. Jiang et al. / Materials and Design 194 (2020) 108946 9

Fig. 7. Effect of printing direction on mechanical performance. (a)-(b) Stress-strain curves for different printing directions. (c)-(e) Deformation patterns for α = 15∘, α = 45∘, and α = 75∘,
respectively.

process has a large impact on mechanical performance. Structure tends all dynamic loading conditions. Extending the strain rate to higher levels
to fracture along the printing direction and mechanical properties are will be essential to examine the feasibility to employ the proposed
superior when loaded parallel to the printed layers. Moreover, the me- architected foams in blast and impact protection systems. In addition,
chanical performance of APF is strain rate dependent due to the inher- the finite element simulations performed here cannot consider the
ent rate sensitivity of the constitutive material. It should be pointed layer-by-layer feature of the printed samples and manufacturing defects
out that the strain rate tested here is still low, which cannot represent involved. This can be resolved by improving the current constitutive
10 H. Jiang et al. / Materials and Design 194 (2020) 108946

Fig. 8. Effect of printing direction on mechanical performance. (a) Stiffness as a function ofα. (b) Strength as a function ofα. (c) Energy absorption as a function of α. Here a = 25mm, t/R =
1/10, r = 4t, θ = 20∘.

: : : : : :
Fig. 9. Effect of loading rate from 10−5 to 0.1 s−1. (a)-(b) Stress-strain curves for ε¼ 10−5 , ε¼ 10−4 , ε¼ 10−3 , ε¼ 10−2 , and ε¼ 10−1 . (c) Deformation patterns for a strain rate of ε¼ 10−1 ,
: −5 ∘
and (d) Deformation patterns for a strain rate of ε ¼ 10 . Here a = 25mm, t/R = 1/10, r = 4t, θ = 20 .
 H. Jiang et al. / Materials and Design 194 (2020) 108946 11

Fig. 10. Effect of strain rate on mechanical performance. (a) Stiffness as a function of strain rate. (b) Strength as a function of strain rate. (c) Energy absorption as a function of strain rate.
Here a = 25mm, t/R = 1/10, r = 4t, θ = 20∘.

model to incorporate anisotropy and failure criteria. Nevertheless, the References

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