In-plane mechanical properties of demi-regular lattice materials

Abstract

We investigated the potential of demi-regular tessellations to outperform existing prismatic lattice materials, such as the triangular topology.  The in-plane mechanical properties of three demi-regular tessellations were derived analytically, and then corroborated by both finite element simulations and experiments.  Our analysis showed that these three topologies are elastically isotropic and have a stretching-dominated behaviour.  The elastic modulus of these three demi-regular topologies was 5-20% lower than that of a triangular lattice.  Demi-regular lattices, however, had a high elastic buckling strength, up to 42% higher than their triangular counterpart.  This characteristic makes them ideal topologies for ultra-lightweight applications, where failure is usually governed by elastic buckling.