Recent advancements in manufacturing, finite element analysis (FEA), and optimization techniques have expanded the design possibilities for metamaterials, including isotropic and auxetic structures, known for applications like energy absorption due to their unique deformation mechanism and consistent behavior under varying loads. However, achieving simultaneous control of multiple properties, such as optimal isotropic and auxetic characteristics, remains challenging. This paper introduces a systematic design approach that combines modeling, FEA, genetic algorithm, and optimization to create tailored mechanical behavior in metamaterials. Through strategically arranging 8 distinct neither isotropic nor auxetic unit cell states, the stiffness tensor in a 5 × 5 × 5 cubic symmetric lattice structure is controlled. Employing the NSGA-II genetic algorithm and automated modeling, we yield metamaterial lattice structures possessing both desired isotropic and auxetic properties. Multiphoton lithography fabrication and experimental characterization of the optimized metamaterial highlights a practical real-world use and confirms the close correlation between theoretical and experimental data.

A substantial improvement in the strength of a material is made with a new optimization method applicable to many science problems.

A bistable response is an innate feature of tensegrity metamaterials, which is a conundrum to attain in other metamaterials, since it ushers unconventional static and dynamical mechanical behaviors. This paper investigates the design, modeling, fabrication and testing of bistable lattices with tensegrity architecture and nanoscale features. First, a method to design bistable lattices tessellating tensegrity units is formulated. The additive manufacturing of these structures is performed through multiphoton lithography, which enables the fabrication of microscale structures with nanoscale features and extremely high resolution. Different modular lattices, comprised of struts with 250 nm minimum radius, are tested under loading-unloading uniaxial compression nanoindentation tests. The compression tests confirmed the activation of the designed bistable twisting mechanism in the examined lattices, combined with a moderate viscoelastic response. The force-displacement plots of the 3D assemblies of bistable tensegrity prisms reveal a softening behavior during the loading from the primary stable configuration and a subsequent snapping event that drives the structure into a secondary stable configuration. The twisting mechanism that characterizes such a transition is preserved after unloading and during repeated loading-unloading cycles. The results of the present study elucidate that fabrication of multistable tensegrity lattices is highly feasible via multiphoton lithography and promulgates the fabrication of multi-cell tensegrity metamaterials with unprecedented static and dynamic responses.

Mechanical metamaterials are designed to exhibit enhanced properties not found in natural materials or to bolster the properties of existing materials. The theoretical foundations for tuning the mechanical properties have been established, including topological states, controllable buckling behavior, and quasi-two-dimensional mechanical metamaterials with structures containing vacancies. However, the fabrication and experimental procedures to study these structures at the microscale have not been developed yet and the three-dimensional (3D) architectures examined to date are fairly limited. In this study, 3D mechanical metamaterial structures with select unit cells designed to have vacancies were fabricated by multi-photon lithography, having as the principal objective to control (localize) failure and increase the strain energy capacity of the structure. The metamaterial structure from which all the current designs originate is the octet-truss structure, one of the most widely studied 3D metamaterials. The design of the structures was inspired by the role of vacancies in crystal lattices. Vacancies were introduced in the metamaterial structures to allow localized buckling of lattice members to occur in specific unit cells. The significant increase of the strain energy dissipated in these metamaterials is demonstrated by nanoindentation experiments and finite element results. Vacancy effects on the dynamic response of metamaterial structures are also examined in the light of modal analysis simulations. The findings of this study illustrate the importance of strategically placing vacancies in the microlattices of metamaterial structures to control the overall mechanical behavior and greatly increase strain energy dissipation.