RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Ultralight Metallic Microlattices
JF Science
JO Science
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP 962
OP 965
DO 10.1126/science.1211649
VO 334
IS 6058
A1 Schaedler, T. A.
A1 Jacobsen, A. J.
A1 Torrents, A.
A1 Sorensen, A. E.
A1 Lian, J.
A1 Greer, J. R.
A1 Valdevit, L.
A1 Carter, W. B.
YR 2011
UL http://science.sciencemag.org/content/334/6058/962.abstract
AB Ultralight (<10 milligrams per cubic centimeter) cellular materials are desirable for thermal insulation; battery electrodes; catalyst supports; and acoustic, vibration, or shock energy damping. We present ultralight materials based on periodic hollow-tube microlattices. These materials are fabricated by starting with a template formed by self-propagating photopolymer waveguide prototyping, coating the template by electroless nickel plating, and subsequently etching away the template. The resulting metallic microlattices exhibit densities ρ ≥ 0.9 milligram per cubic centimeter, complete recovery after compression exceeding 50% strain, and energy absorption similar to elastomers. Young’s modulus E scales with density as E ~ ρ2, in contrast to the E ~ ρ3 scaling observed for ultralight aerogels and carbon nanotube foams with stochastic architecture. We attribute these properties to structural hierarchy at the nanometer, micrometer, and millimeter scales.