Accepted Manuscript

3D printed meta-sandwich structures: Failure mechanism, energy

absorption and multi-hit capability

H. Yazdani Sarvestani, A.H. Akbarzadeh, A. Mirbolghasemi, K.

Hermenean

PII: S0264-1275(18)30693-2
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2018.08.061
Reference: JMADE 7359
To appear in: Materials & Design
Received date: 6 August 2018
Revised date: 29 August 2018
Accepted date: 31 August 2018

Please cite this article as: H. Yazdani Sarvestani, A.H. Akbarzadeh, A. Mirbolghasemi, K.
Hermenean , 3D printed meta-sandwich structures: Failure mechanism, energy absorption
and multi-hit capability. Jmade (2018), doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2018.08.061

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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

3D Printed Meta-Sandwich Structures: Failure Mechanism, Energy

Absorption and Multi-hit Capability

H. Yazdani Sarvestani1, A.H. Akbarzadeh1, 2*, A. Mirbolghasemi1, K. Hermenean3

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1
AM3L Laboratory, Department of Bioresource Engineering, McGill University, Island of Montreal, QC H9X

3V9 Canada

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Department of Mechanical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3A 0C3 Canada
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MACHINA Corp., Edmonton, AB T6H 2H3 Canada
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*
Address correspondence to: hamid.akbarzadeh@mcgill.ca, Tel: +1 (514) 398-7680.
https://www.mcgill.ca/bioeng/faculty-and-staff/abdolhamid-akbarzadeh-shafaroudi.

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Abstract

A new class of lightweight and 3D printable architected sandwich structures, named as meta-

sandwich structures, has been introduced. These lightweight sandwich structures, which have

been made of mechanical metamaterials as the core, show many advantages such as high

stiffness-to-weight ratio and high energy absorption capability. In this paper, finite element

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simulation and experimental testing were implemented to evaluate the structural durability of 3D

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printed meta-sandwiches under quasi-static flexure and low-velocity impact tests. We

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specifically investigated the failure mechanism, energy absorption and multi-hit capability of 3D

printed polymeric meta-sandwich structures made of cubic, octet and Isomax cellular cores.

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Three-point bending experiments on 3D printed meta-sandwich beams were conducted to
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evaluate their flexural stiffness and quasi-static energy absorption, followed by low-velocity

impact tests to determine their dynamic energy absorption and multi-hit capabilities. Analytical
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formulations were also developed to capture the failure mechanism in the architected sandwich
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structures. It is found that the core topology and geometrical parameters have significant effects

on failure mechanism and energy absorption of meta-sandwich structures. For example, Isomax
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meta-sandwich structures have high quasi-static and dynamic impact energy absorption
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capabilities.
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Keywords: Architected meta-sandwich structures; 3D printing; Metamaterials; Failure

mechanism; Energy absorption.

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1. Introduction

Lightweight sandwich structures are nowadays extensively used in aerospace, marine,

automobile, windmill and building industrial sectors, mainly due to their excellent

multifunctional properties such as high flexural stiffness, thermal insulation and high energy-

absorption capabilities [1, 2]. Sandwich structures consist of three components: two thin solid

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face-sheets with high flexural stiffness at top and bottom surfaces separated by a relatively thick

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lightweight core. The lightweight core connects the face-sheets with a little increase in weight,

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providing a high bending and buckling resistance [3] and excellent shear stiffness and energy

absorption capability [4]. The optimized lightweight sandwich structures are made of architected

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cellular cores, which carry transverse shear and compression loads, and solid face-sheets which
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carry in-plane load and flexure [1]. Concerning limited energy and material resources,

lightweight micro-architected sandwich structures are of growing interest since they can
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simultaneously reduce the weight of structural elements while satisfying multiple functionalities,
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e.g. structural rigidity [5], heat exchanging [6] and electrical properties [7]. Recent advances in

manufacturing, e.g. additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) and laser cutting, have enabled
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manufacturing of architected cellular cores of free-form two-dimensional (2D) and three-

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dimensional (3D) topologies, which are impossible to be fabricated by conventional

manufacturing processes of sandwich structures, e.g. extrusion, expansion and corrugation [8].
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Opposed to foaming process (e.g. compression molding, slabstock, casting and solid-gas eutectic

solidification [3]), which leads to manufacturing of porous materials with random morphologies,

3D printing offers a robust manufacturing process for controlling the microarchitecture of

cellular materials made of polymers, composites and metals which makes 3D printed materials

applicable in medicine as a scaffold for regeneration of tissues and organs [9], in the

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electromagnetic industry as interference shielding [10-12], in space sectors for satellite structures

[13] or in thermal management as heat exchangers [14]. Among advantages of 3D printing, the

programmability of multifunctional properties over a multiple length scale through controlling

architecture and geometrical features of cellular cores [15-18] can be highlighted, however

reliability of 3D printed components is yet to be examined as 3D printing commonly leads to

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manufacturing defects [19, 20].

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The structural and energy absorption performance as well as failure mechanism of a cellular

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sandwich structure depend on its constituent material, geometrical parameters and core cell

topology. Among all possible topologies, conventional honeycombs have been widely studied

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[21-23]. Sandwich structures with conventional honeycomb cores are stiff and lightweight and
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are capable of absorbing high energy under impact loads and shockwaves, for example for

applications in sports goods (e.g. helmet) and vehicles (e.g. bumpers) [24, 25]. However, they
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commonly suffer from the closed-cell architecture of their core due to gas retention and moisture
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trapping within their core [1]. Moisture trapped in the closed-cell cores increases the weight of

sandwich structures and shifts their center of gravity, a culprit which can be diminished by open-
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cell cores [1] such as truss-like lattices [26, 27]. Compared to regular honeycombs, it has been
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shown that lattice cores can significantly increase the buckling resistance and energy absorption

capability of sandwich structures [28, 29]. Another type of cellular cores is auxetic cells which
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have been examined in recent papers [30, 31] due to their unusual deformation mechanism, i.e.,

negative Poisson’s ratio. The structural responses of sandwich structures with auxetic cores were

analyzed under small deformation [32, 33], large deformation [34, 35], bending [36, 37] and

low-velocity impact [38]. It has been shown that the angle of auxetic cores has a significant

influence on the structural responses of the sandwich structures [36]. In addition, it was found

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that the auxetic composite panels were able to absorb the dynamic impact energy through plastic

deformation and the displacements of the back face-sheet can consequently be reduced [38].

Recent studies have shown that architected 3D printed cores, especially those with 3D

microarchitecture, present a new class of highly-optimized energy-absorption structures that

offer flexibility in controlling the response of sandwich structures under quasi-static and impact

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loads [39-43]. Lightweight Isomax cores, as one of the new architected cellular structure, are

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maximally stiff in all directions with maximum theoretical toughness [44]. Although a few

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studies have been performed on sandwich structures with 3D printed architected cores to

evaluate flexural behavior [44-46] and out-of-plane compressive strength [47, 48], less attention

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has been paid to explore the failure mechanism, energy absorption and multi-hit capabilities of
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additively manufactured sandwich structures with 3D architected core topologies subjected to

quasi-static and impact loads.

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Present research investigated the structural responses, failure mechanism, multi-hit and energy
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absorption capabilities of 3D printed architected sandwich structures with mechanical

metamaterial cores, e.g. cubic, octet and Isomax cell topologies. Their behavior was studied to
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efficiently optimize the energy absorption performance. The failure mechanism and energy
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absorption capability of a meta-sandwich structure are influenced by its: (a) Total dimensions

(length, width and thickness), (b) Mass (relative density), (c) Properties of the base material used
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to build the core and face-sheets and (d) Core topology. The current study focuses on the effect

of architected core topologies and relative density on the structural responses (Section S4 of

Supplementary Document), flexural stiffness (Section 3.1.3), energy absorption performance

(Sections 3.1.2 and 3.2.2), failure mechanism (Section 3.1.4) and multi-hit capability (Section S2

of Supplementary Document) of meta-sandwich structures 3D printed by fused deposition

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modelling (FDM). The current research sheds lights on the durability of 3D printed meta-

sandwich structures as lightweight load-bearing and energy absorbent engineering components.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Meta-sandwich Structures and Experimental Set-up

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In a previous study [19], we investigated energy absorption capability of sandwich panels

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with architected 2D cores. Here, a new type of lightweight sandwich structures consisting of

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repeating 3D cellular cores with high stiffness-to-weight ratio and high energy absorption

capability was designed. These cellular cores can reach the upper bound of Hashin-Shtrikman for

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elastic stiffness showing a maximum strain energy storage [44]. We name these structures “meta-
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sandwich structures”.
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z
z
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b
a a b
x y y
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t x
tf tc tf t
tc
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Ls Face-sheets
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(a) (b)

Figure 1: Geometry and coordinate system: (a) Meta-sandwich beam and (b) Meta-sandwich plate.

Figure 1 shows the dimensions of the meta-sandwich beams and plates including length (a),

width (b), total thickness (t), core thickness (tc) and face-sheet thickness (tf). The coordinate

system (x, , z) is located at the mid-plane of the meta-sandwich structures. The dimensions of

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sandwich beams and plates, presented in Table 1, have been designed based on ASTM D3763

[49], ASTM C393 [50] and experimental testing limitations such as capacity or geometrical

restrictions of flexural tester.

Table 1: Geometrical parameters of meta-sandwich structures (Unit: mm).

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Total Core Face-sheet Span length

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Geometry Length (a) Width (b)
thickness (t) thickness (tc) thickness (tf) (Ls)

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140 20 30 20 5
Beams 90
140 40 50 40 5

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Plate 100 100 AN 50 40 5 -

2.1.1. Mechanical Metamaterials as Cellular Cores

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Figure 2 presents the unit cell configuration of three metamaterial cores including cubic, octet
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and Isomax (cubic + octet) closed-cells [44]. All inclined faces of octet and Isomax cells have

54.74° with respect to the top plane, as can be calculated from Fig. 2b. Closed Isomax cells are
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composed of sheet plate and exploit material constraints in two directions rather than beam-like
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struts in lattices [44].

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Cubic Octet Isomax (Cubic + Octet)

(a)

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(b)

Figure 2: (a) Unit cells of the mechanical metamaterial cellular cores and (b) Geometrical characteristics of octet
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unit cell.
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Although closed-cell cubic and octet unit cells store a maximum amount of strain energy, they

are highly anisotropic [44]. As a result, Isomax [44] has recently been introduced by combining
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cubic and octet unit cells to achieve an isotropic cellular material reaching the upper bound of

Hashin-Shtrikman for elastic stiffness and to show a maximum elastic strain energy storage.

Isomax cells consist of distributed networks of plates to efficiently transfer loads between

neighboring members leading to isotropic structural properties [44].

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2.1.2. 3D Printing of Meta-sandwich Structures

The meta-sandwich beams and plates were manufactured by fused deposition modelling

(FDM) using MK2 3D printer, MACHINA Corp., out of polylactic acid (PLA) polymer.

Considering the layer-by-layer fabrication process of FDM 3D printing, the layer orientation was

found to influence the mechanical properties of the 3D printed material.

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Table 2: Representative of 3D printed meta-sandwich beams and plates fabricated by FDM 3D printing.

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Isomax beam (7×2×2) Octet beam (7×2×2)
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Cubic beam (7×2×2) Auxetic beam (7×2×2)

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Octet sandwich plate Isomax sandwich plate

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Therefore, all samples were 3D printed along the same orientation. Examples of 3D printed

meta-sandwich beams and plates with four core topologies are shown in Tables 2 and S.1 of

Supplementary Document.

2.1.3. Material Properties

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To study the 3D printed polymeric sandwich structure, it is essential to first characterize the

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base PLA material. Dogbone tensile coupons, in agreement with ASTM standard D638 [51],

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were 3D printed with the same material used for 3D printing of meta-sandwich structures as

shown in Fig. 3. The tensile tests were performed on four 3D printed dogbone coupons using an

MTS mechanical tester with a 10 kN load cell.

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Figure 3: (a) Engineering stress-strain curves of 3D printed PLA dogbone coupons under tensile load, (b) 3D

printed dogbone coupons before and after tensile tests.

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It is often the case with FDM 3D printing processes that material properties exhibit a certain

degree of anisotropy. Yang et al. [52] showed that the 3D printing orientation of 45° could

provide an approximation for evaluating the material properties of 3D printed materials, e.g.

Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio. Here, Dogbone coupons were fabricated in the orientation

of ±45° with respect to the loading axis (See Fig. 3b). Figure 3a presents the experimental tensile

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stress-strain curves of 3D printed PLA coupons. The averaged experimental properties of PLA

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are reported in Table 3.

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Table 3: Experimental properties of 3D printed PLA dogbone coupons.

Young’s Poisson’s ratio

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Ultimate Yield strain Plastic strain

modulus strength ( u) ( Y) (υp)* at break ( p)

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Average mechanical
2.3 ± 0.1 GPa 46.1 ± 1 MPa 0.024 ± 0.001 0.38 ± 0.003 0.085 ± 0.001
properties
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*
Measured after failure of the PLA samples.
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2.1.4. Three-point Bending Test

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Three-point bending tests were conducted on architected meta-sandwich beams using an MTS
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test machine (Instron 5900R-5584) following ASTM C393 [50] to evaluate the flexural stiffness,

quasi-static energy absorption along with the failure mechanism as shown in Fig. 4. Four 3D
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printed meta-sandwich beams with two span-to-thickness ratios of Ls = 3 and 1.8 were

considered, as shown in Table S.2 of Supplementary Document. The transverse quasi-static load

was applied at a displacement rate of 0.5 mm/min with a preload of 1 N. The resolution of the

load cell (MTS 661 20E-03 with maximum capacity of 100 kN) was 0.375 N. The load was

applied by a central roller of 10 mm diameter with two outer cylindrical rollers with a 10 mm

diameter spaced 90 mm apart.

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Impactor

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Simply supports

Figure 4: 3-point bending test configurations of 3D printed meta-architected sandwich beams.

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According to ASTM C393 [50], the span of sandwich beams must be sufficiently short to

determine the core shear strength; in this condition, the core shear failure occurs prior to the
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face-sheet failure. Therefore, the span length of the beam was set at 90 mm with respect to the

total thickness of one of the meta-sandwich beams selected as 30 mm (Ls = 3).

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2.1.5. Low-velocity Impact Test

To evaluate dynamic energy absorption capability of meta-sandwich plates (See Table S.3 of
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Supplementary Document) The low-velocity impact tests were performed using a drop weight
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machine with a 10 kN load cell based on the guidelines given in ASTM standard D3763 [49].

The resolution of the load cell (MTS 661 19E-04 with maximum capacity of 25 kN) was 0.01%
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of the maximum load. The impactor had a mass of 22 kg and a diameter of 25.4 mm. During the

impact test, the samples were constrained between two parallel rigid supports with 75 mm

diameter holes at their centers (See Fig. 5). Sufficient clamping pressure was applied to prevent

the samples from slipping during the experiments.

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Impactor

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Guide rail
Sandwich plate

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Figure 5: Low-velocity impact test configuration of 3D printed architected meta-sandwich plates.

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2.2. Quasi-static Failure Mechanism of Architected Sandwich Beams
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Sandwich beams under quasi-static 3-point bending fail in several modes: face-sheet

compressive failure, face-sheet wrinkling, core shear yielding, core compressive yielding and
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interfacial failure between the core and face-sheets as presented in Table 4 [28, 53].
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2.2.1. Face-sheet Failure

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The face-sheet failure in sandwich beams is identified by two failure modes: face-sheet
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compressive failure and face-sheet wrinkling (i.e., local buckling).

(a) For the face-sheet compressive failure, the maximum load per unit width (i.e., b) is
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expressed as [53]:

Xf
Pmax 

1
Ls   
  6 

  4t t  t
 f f c    4t 2f 
 



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where Xf represents the face-sheet compressive yield. In addition, β = , where k =

and Df = ; Df is the bending stiffness of the face-sheet about its neutral axis and Ec and

Ef are Young’s modulus of the core and longitudinal modulus of the face-sheets,

respectively.

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(b) The face-sheet wrinkling occurs due to the local buckling related to the waviness of the

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face-sheet as well as the difference between the moduli of the face-sheet and core materials

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[53]. Since sandwich beams have high-strength cores, high elastic moduli of the face-sheet

and cellular core materials and small amplitude in waviness of the face-sheet, the face-

sheet wrinkling failure mode does not occur.

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2.2.2. Core Failure
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The core failure in sandwich beams is identified by three failure modes: core shear yielding,
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core compressive yielding and core buckling.

(a) For core shear yielding, the maximum load per unit width is expressed as [53]:
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
Pmax  2Sc tc  t f   2
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where Sc represents the core shear yield strength.

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(b) For core compressive yielding, the maximum load per unit width is expressed as [53]:

2Xc
Pmax 

 3

where Xc represents the core compressive yield strength.

(c) For core buckling, FEA is used to capture this type of failure modes.

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2.2.3. Adhesive Failure

The interfacial failure may occur first when the interfacial strength is lower than the core

shear strength [53]. Opposed to conventional sandwich composites, 3D printed sandwich

structures do not require adhesion between face-sheet and cellular core, which dramatically

reduces the possibility of debonding of the core and face-sheets [1].

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It should be mentioned that the impact failure mechanisms have been discussed in Section S3 of

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Supplementary Document.

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Table 4: Quasi-static 3-point bending failure modes of architected sandwich beams.

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Failure type Failure mode Method
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Face-sheet compressive failure Eq. (1)
Face-sheet failure
Face-sheet wrinkling (local buckling) FEA
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Core shear yielding Eq. (2)

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Core failure Core compressive yielding Eq. (3)

Core buckling FEA

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Not applicable for 3D

Adhesive failure Interfacial failure between core and face-sheets printed sandwiches
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2.3. Numerical Modeling

The 3D explicit nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) was conducted using commercial

software ANSYS Workbench 18.2 with AUTODYN solver. Meta-sandwich beams under a

quasi-static 3-point bending load and meta-sandwich plates under a low-velocity impact were

simulated, as shown in Fig. 6. The finite element modeling included defining the geometry,

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contacts and material properties, discretizing the medium and applying loads and the boundary

conditions. For 3-point bending analysis, the fixed supporting rods and the loading head were

made of steel with the radii of 10 mm. The loading was applied by assigning a finite

displacement to the top cylinder. For the low-velocity impact, the hemispheric impactor was

defined as a perfectly rigid body. The dynamic loading was applied by assigning an initial

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velocity to the impactor. The contacts between supports, impactor and sandwich structures were

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considered to be frictionless. The stress-strain relation of PLA was considered to be elastic-

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perfectly plastic based on Table 3. The face-sheets and the core were discretized with tetrahedral

and hexahedral elements; a convergence study was conducted to avoid mesh size dependency.

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To consider the failure in the impact analysis, the maximum equivalent plastic strain criterion
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was used. Whenever the stress state of an element of the materials reached the predefined failure

criterion, the element was failed and removed from analysis, consequently. In addition,
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geometric nonlinearity was adopted to capture large deformation mechanism of the meta-
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sandwich structures. It should be noted that the gravitational force was negligible compared to

the force applied on the impactor.

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Loading head Fixed in x- and y-directions Impactor

Face sheet
Fixed support

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3D-printed core

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(a) (b)

Figure 6: Finite element models for (a) 3-point bending and (b) Impact tests.

3. Results and Discussion US

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3.1. Energy Absorption, Flexural Stiffness and Failure Mechanism of Meta-sandwich Beams
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3.1.1. Verification
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Figure 7 presents the comparison of force-displacement curves of 3D printed meta-sandwich

beams (including Isomax, octet and cubic cores) under 3-point bending obtained by experimental
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tests and nonlinear static FEA. Excellent agreement can be observed in the force-displacement
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curves between the numerical and experimental results for displacement range up to the yielding

of the meta-sandwich beams with less than 5% error. After yielding FEA results and
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experimental data are not matched due to using the elastic-perfectly plastic constitutive law

considered for FEA. As displacement increases, the experimental results show the failures of

platen struts leading to significant drops in the force-displacement curves, a phenomenon which

is not captured by FEA since any fracture criteria is not taken into account for the analysis of

meta-sandwich beams. Figure 7b shows the deformed configurations in the experiment; while

Fig. 7c shows the corresponding deformations obtained by FEA (von Mises stress distributions).

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Table 5 presents the maximum load and flexural stiffness of meta-sandwich beams (Ls = 3)

obtained by the experiments and FEA. An excellent agreement can be observed with a difference

up to 8%. The simulated results are slightly higher than the experimentally values, which can be

emanates from different culprits: (a) The constitutive law assumed for numerical FEA has been

assumed to be elastic-perfectly plastic which can cause the difference between experimental and

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FEA results especially for deformation ranged beyond the elastic domain. (b) FDM 3D printing

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fabricated meta-sandwich panels by depositing molten layers in z-direction. The final 3D printed

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products were layered in a microscopic layer; however, we considered perfectly bonded layers

when we implemented finite element analysis for modeling the FDM 3D printed products which

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slightly over predicted their stiffness and strength. In addition, the current FEA considered 3D
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printed PLA as isotropic materials; however, since the molten layers were deposited based on the

3D printing toolpath, the 3D printed materials can be orthotropic which has been overlooked in
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the current analysis, and (c) The 3D printed PLA polymers could slightly lose their properties
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when subjected to air or elevated environmental conditions. Since the tensile test on dogbone

coupons and the flexure and impact tests have been conducted at different time, this can be
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another reason for slight difference between numerical results (obtained based on experimental
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data found by tensile test on 3D printed dogbane coupons) and experimental data.
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Figure 7: (a) Experimental and FEA force-displacement curves of 3D printed architected meta-sandwich beams

including Isomax, octet and cubic cores with the relative densities of 30% and 50%, (b) Experimental deformed
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shapes and (c) The corresponding FEA meta-sandwich beams.

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During the 3-point bending test, the platen struts are subjected to tension, compression, or
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bending, a complex stress state which is not well-captured in a simple elastic-perfectly plastic
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material model. Anisotropy, porosity and imperfections caused by 3D printing should also be

considered in the numerical simulation to obtain results closer to experimental data on 3D

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printed sandwich structures. These results suggest the possibility of tailoring core topology of

lightweight sandwich structures to achieve desirable flexural properties for certain engineering

applications.

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Table 5: Comparison between FEA and experimental data of meta-sandwich beams (7×1×1 unit cells).

Maximum load (kN) Flexural stiffness (kN/mm)

Core architecture
FEA Experiment FEA Experiment

Isomax 4.57 4.56 2.21 2.11

ρ = 30% Octet 4.84 4.82 2.29 2.24

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Cubic 5.10 5.09 2.11 2.02

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Isomax 6.87 6.85 3.02 2.90

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ρ = 50% Octet 6.94 6.92 2.91 2.84

Cubic 6.94 6.93 3.00 2.95

3.1.2. Quasi-static energy absorption performance US

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Figure 8 presents the experimental load-deflection curves for different 3D printed meta-sandwich
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beams composed of 7×1×1 unit cells (Ls = 3). The experimental data shows that the core
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topology has a significant role on the load-deflection curves. Cubic meta-sandwich beam has

slightly the largest bending stiffness and maximum contact load, while the auxetic sandwich
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beam has the lowest bending stiffness showing the largest value of bending deflection. It is found

that the sandwich beam with the auxetic core has much lower flexural modulus and stress level at
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the same deformation level compared to the other core topologies. Figure 8b shows the
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deformation configuration of the meta-sandwich beams with ρ = 30% right before the final

failure. Face-sheet fracture occurs in cubic (ρ = 30% and 50%), octet (ρ = 50%) and Isomax (ρ =

50%) meta-sandwich beams before core failure causing drops in the load-deflection curves and

local failure in meta-sandwich beams. The shear resistance or shear strength of the core materials

plays an important role during the bending of sandwich structures. Interestingly, no fracture is

observed in the auxetic sandwich beams (ρ = 30% and 50%) up to the final failure. The buckling

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of constructive struts, however, is seen in auxetic sandwich cores. In addition, the failure in the

octet (ρ = 30%) and Isomax (ρ = 30%) meta-sandwich beams includes the fractures of top face-

sheets and horizontal platen and buckling of vertical platen struts. The buckling phenomenon

does not result in a catastrophic failure; instead the buckled cellular core enables the sandwich

structure to absorb energy under larger deformation. Therefore, global failure mode controls the

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deformation of auxetic (ρ = 30% and 50%), octet (ρ = 30%) and Isomax (ρ = 30%) sandwich

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beams. However, it should be noted that the core deformations in Isomax, octet and cubic

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sandwich beams are irreversible after unloading.

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Figure 8: Bending characteristic of architected meta-sandwich beams with different core architectures. Beams are

composed of 7×1×1 unit cells (Ls = 3): (a) Load-deflection curves and (b) Deformed configurations of each meta-

sandwich beam right before failure.

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Figure 9: Bending characteristic of architected sandwich beams with different core architectures. Beams are

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composed of 7×2×2 unit cells (Ls = 1.8): (a) Load-deflection curves and (b) Deformed configurations of each meta-
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sandwich beam right before failure.
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Experimental 3-point bending load-deflection curves for different architected 3D printed

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meta-sandwich beams composed of 7×2×2 unit cells (Ls = 1.8) are presented in Fig. 9. The

deformed shapes of the meta-sandwich beams with ρ = 30%, right before the final failure, are
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shown in Fig. 9b. The Isomax meta-sandwich beam shows the largest bending stiffness and

maximum contact load, while the auxetic core sandwich beam has the lowest bending stiffness
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and the largest bending deflection. While core buckling is observed in cubic (ρ = 30% and 50%)
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and auxetic (ρ = 30% and 50%) sandwich beams. Core shear failure occurs in octet meta-

sandwich beams (ρ = 30% and 50%). Combination of core buckling and core fracture occurs in

Isomax meta-sandwich beams (ρ = 30% and 50%). In addition, the final failure for the auxetic (ρ

= 30% and 50%), cubic (ρ = 30% and 50%) and octet (ρ = 50%) meta-sandwich beams is due to

a tensile load in the lower face-sheet. On the other hand, the octet meta-sandwich beam (ρ =

30%) ultimately breaks under the core shear failure mode and the final failure for Isomax meta-

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sandwich beams (ρ = 30% and 50%) is due to a compressive load in the top face-sheet. For the

span-to-thickness ratio of Ls = 1.8, cubic and auxetic sandwich beams show larger deformation

before the final failure compared to the other architected sandwich beams, which is due to the

fact that core buckling is more dominant in the failure behavior.

Figure 10 presents experimental results for bending stiffness, maximum load, displacement at

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maximum load and energy absorption (up to final catastrophic failure) of meta-sandwich beams

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composed of 7×1×1 unit cells (Ls = 3) of four core designs and for two relative densities of 30%

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and 50%. By increasing the relative density, the maximum force, bending stiffness and

displacement at maximum load increase significantly for all meta-sandwich beams; however,

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energy absorption only increases for the auxetic sandwich beams. Interestingly, the energy
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absorption of Isomax, octet and cubic meta-sandwich beams with the relative density of ρ = 30%

are higher than their counterparts with the relative density of ρ = 30%. The meta-sandwich
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beams with higher relative density are stiffer and stronger but more brittle. Therefore, larger
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bending deflection occurs which leads to a higher energy absorption. At any given relative

density, octet, cubic, and Isomax meta-sandwich beams provide a larger maximum force and a
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larger bending stiffness than the auxetic sandwich beam. Comparing the bending properties of
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four 3D printed sandwich beams, it is found that octet and Isomax sandwich beams exhibit a

better performance over the cubic or auxetic sandwich beams. Isomax sandwich beam has the
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same level of response forces but with smaller energy absorption ability compared to the octet

sandwich beam. Moreover, while the global deformation is more dominant in the failure

mechanism of Isomax meta-sandwich beams, octet and cubic meta-sandwich beams are more

prone to failures caused by local deformations.

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Figure 10: Bending properties of the 3D printed meta-sandwich beams composed of 7×1×1 unit cells (Ls = 3): (a)
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Bending stiffness, (b) Maximum load, (c) Displacement at maximum load and (d) Energy absorption.
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Figure 11 shows the experimental results for the bending stiffness, maximum load, displacement
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at maximum load and energy absorption of meta-sandwich beams composed of 7×2×2 unit cells

(Ls = 1.8). While the cubic meta-sandwich beam with higher span-to-thickness ratio (Ls = 3)

shows the lowest energy absorption among all meta-sandwich beams, for the lower span-to-

thickness ratio (Ls = 1.8), it shows the highest energy. This can be justified by the buckling of the

vertical platen struts in cubic unit cells instead of fracture, leading to absorption of higher energy

during the loading.

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Figure 11: Bending properties of the 3D printed meta-sandwich beams composed of 7×2×2 unit cells (Ls = 1.8): (a)

Bending stiffness, (b) Maximum load, (c) Displacement at maximum load and (d) Energy absorption.
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3.1.3. Flexural stiffness

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In this section, the experimental and theoretical studies on the flexural stiffness of the 3D

printed meta-sandwich beams are presented. The flexural stiffness of sandwich beams is

calculated from the equivalent flexural rigidity (EI)eq and the equivalent shear rigidity (AG)eq.

The equivalent flexural rigidity of the rectangular beam, as shown in Fig. 1a, is [3]:

(4)

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Three terms, introduced in the right hand side of Eq. (4), describe the bending stiffness of the

faces and the core about their own centroid, and the bending stiffness of the faces about the

centroid of the sandwich beam, respectively. It should be mentioned that Young’s modulus of the

core of sandwich beams is extracted from reference [44]; for other core topologies, the

computational homogenization technique [7], e.g. standard mechanics or asymptotic

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homogenization, can be used to obtain the effective properties. Young’s modulus of the face-

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sheet is equal to PLA Young’s modulus. The equivalent shear rigidity is defined as [46]:

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(5)

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where the shear modulus of the core Gc is obtained by considering a periodic core under a shear

strain in FEA [44]. When a load P is applied, the deflections δ of the sandwich beam is the
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summation of the bending and shear components:
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δ= + = (6)
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Using Eqs. (4)-(6), the theoretical flexural stiffness of the meta-sandwich beam is
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. Table 6 presents the comparison between the flexural stiffness obtained by

the theoretical formulation, FEA and experimental testing. The theoretical flexural stiffness is up
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to 12% higher than the experimental data.

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Table 6: Comparison between the flexural stiffness of meta-sandwich beams obtained by 3-point bending

experiment, theoretical formulation and FEA of rotated cubic cores.

Flexural stiffness (kN/mm)

Experimental Theoretical
FEA
data formulation
Cell density and type

Isomax 2.11 2.35 2.21

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Octet 2.24 2.39 2.29
ρ = 0.3
θ = 0° θ = 15° θ = 30° θ = 45°

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Cubic 2.02 2.25
7×1×1 2.11 1.89 1.71 1.52

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(Ls = 3) Isomax 2.90 3.15 3.02

Octet 2.84 3.04 2.91

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ρ = 0.5
θ = 0° θ = 15° θ = 30° θ = 45°
Cubic 2.95 3.18
3.00 2.74 2.59 2.30
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Isomax 8.25 8.46 8.33

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Octet 5.74 5.92 5.82

ρ = 0.3
θ = 0° θ = 15° θ = 30° θ = 45°
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Cubic 5.73 5.95

7×2×2 5.81 5.61 5.48 5.20
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(Ls = 1.8) Isomax 9.50 9.69 9.60

Octet 8.73 8.97 8.80

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ρ = 0.5
θ = 0° θ = 15° θ = 30° θ = 45°
Cubic 5.83 6.01
5.91 5.69 5.50 5.31

As mentioned in Section 2.1.1, as oppose to cubic and octet cells, Isomax cells are mechanically

isotropic. To show this advantage of Isomax over octet and cubic cells, we simulated cubic meta-

sandwich beams out of 15°, 30° and 45° rotated cells (in-plane rotations, See Section S.4 of

Supplementary Document) for both ρ = 30% and 50% under 3-point bending load. Table 6

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presents the flexural stiffness of rotated cubic sandwich beams compared to regular cubic beams

(for Ls = 1.8 and 3). By increasing the rotation angle of the cubic core, the flexural stiffness

decreases since less material is involved in the load bearing characteristics of the meta-sandwich

beam.

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3.1.4. Failure mechanism

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The failure mechanisms were detected based on the formulations developed in Section 2.2

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and FEA. We have also compared predictions with the experimental observation, reported in

Table 7. It is worth mentioning that the face-sheet compressive yield strength, used in Eq. (1), is

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obtained from the literature that is Xf = 93.8 MPa [54]. In addition, the core shear yield strength
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(Sc) in Eq. (2) is calculated using [50], where Pmax is obtained based on FEA of meta-
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sandwich beams under 3-point bending loads (See Table 5). Finally, the core compressive yield

strengths (Xc) are obtained by FEA of periodic cubic, octet and Isomax unit cells under a
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distributed compressive load. As presented in Table 7, theoretical formulation and FEA detect
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the same failure mechanism as occurred in experiments for most of the cases. For cubic (ρ = 30%

and 50%) and octet (ρ = 50%) meta-sandwich beams, the failure starts with core buckling,
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detected by FEA, followed by failure in the bottom face-sheet due to a maximum tensile stress.
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This failure mode is not covered by the theoretical developments making it incapable of

capturing the phenomenon occurred during the experiments. The failure mechanisms are

illustrated in Fig. 12.

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Table 7: Comparison of the failure mechanisms obtained by theoretical formulations, FEA & experimental testing.

Methods

Cell density and type Failure mechanisms Experimental Formulatio

tests ns & FEA

Isomax Core buckling & top face-sheet failure ✔ ✔

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ρ = 0.3 Octet Core buckling & top face-sheet failure ✔ ✔

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7×1×1 Cubic Top face-sheet failure ✔ ✔

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(Ls = 3) Isomax Top face-sheet failure ✔ ✔

ρ = 0.5 ✔ ✔

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Octet Top face-sheet failure

Cubic Top face-sheet failure ✔ ✔

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Core buckling following by failure in the
Isomax ✔ ✔
top face-sheet
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ρ = 0.3 Octet Core shear ✔ ✔

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Core buckling following by failure in the

Cubic ✔ --
bottom face-sheet
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7×2×1
Core buckling following by failure in the
(Ls = 1.8) Isomax ✔ ✔
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top face-sheet

Core shear following by failure in the

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ρ = 0.5 Octet ✔ --
bottom face-sheet

Core buckling following by failure in the

Cubic ✔ --
bottom face-sheet

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Isomax Octet Cubic

ρ = 0.3 (Core buckling & top face-sheet ρ = 0.3 (Core buckling & top face-sheet

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ρ = 0.3 (Top face-sheet failure)
Ls = 3

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failure) failure)

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ρ = 0.5 (Top face-sheet failure) ρ = 0.5 (Top face-sheet failure)
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ρ = 0.3 (Core buckling following by failure ρ = 0.3 (Core buckling following by

ρ = 0.3 (Core shear)
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in the top face-sheet) failure in the bottom face-sheet)

Ls = 1.8
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ρ = 0.5 (Core buckling following by failure ρ = 0.5 (Core shear following by failure ρ = 0.5 (Core shear following by failure
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in the top face-sheet) in the bottom face-sheet) in the bottom face-sheet)

Figure 12: Failure mechanism of meta-sandwich beams under quasi-static loading.

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3.2. Energy Absorption of Meta-sandwich Plates

3.2.1. Verification

To verify the validity of FEA analysis, the numerical simulation result for the energy

absorption time-history of 3D printed Isomax meta-sandwich plates with the relative density of ρ

= 30% is compared with the experimental data in Fig. 13 for the impact energies of 3J and 40J.

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Good agreements are found between the results of experimental tests and numerical analyses

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with a difference less than 8%. The reasons why the simulated results are slightly higher than the

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experimental data were mentioned in Section 3.1.1. In the energy absorption-time history plot,

the amounts of absorbed and returned (released) energies during the impact test can be observed.

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The absorbed energy is the energy mostly dissipated by failure mechanisms, e.g. delamination
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[55] and cracking [56]. The returned (released) energy is the elastic energy. Herein, we define

the energy absorption percentage based on the following ratio: % [19].

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The comparison of energy absorption percentage of meta-sandwich plates with the relative
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densities of ρ = 30% and 50% subjected to 3J and 40J impacts evaluated by the experiments and
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FEA are presented in Section S6 of Supplementary Document.

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Figure 13: Experimental and FEA energy time-histories of 3D printed Isomax meta-sandwich plates with the

relative density of ρ = 30% for 3J and 40J impact energies.

3.2.2. Energy absorption performance

Figure 14 shows the time-history of experimental energy absorption of 3D printed meta-

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sandwich plates under 3J and 40J low-velocity impact tests for alternative cellular core

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configuration and relative density. Almost all meta-sandwich plates show the same energy

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absorption capability for the low impact energy, while the different cores show dissimilar energy

absorption performance for higher values of impact energy.

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Figure 14: Energy time-history of experimental impact test on 3D printed meta-sandwich plates of

alternative core topology and relative density for 3J and 40J impacts.

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The experimental results of the energy absorption and maximum load of meta-sandwich plates (ρ

= 30% and 50%) subjected to a 3J impact load are presented in Fig. 15. At low impact energy

tests, Isomax, octet and cubic meta-sandwich plates show the same energy absorption

performance which is higher than that of the auxetic sandwich plate. On the other hand, the

magnitude of maximum contact load for Isomax, octet and cubic meta-sandwich plates are not

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the same. While the cubic meta-sandwich plate shows the maximum contact load, auxetic

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sandwich plates exhibit the minimum magnitude of the contact load for both 30% and 50%

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relative densities. The impact energy applied to the sandwich plates is primarily absorbed

through failure and damage of core and face-sheets. As shown in Fig. 15, the maximum contact

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load increases significantly by increasing the relative density. However, energy absorption
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capability of Isomax and auxetic sandwich plates either stays almost the same or marginally

drops. This observation corresponds to the increased stiffness caused by increasing the relative
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density. The deformation configuration and equivalent stress distribution on the cross section of
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the meta-sandwich plates under a 3J impact are shown in Fig. 15.

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Figure 15: Impact properties of 3D printed meta-sandwich plates with Isomax, octet, cubic and auxetic cellular
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cores under a 3J low-velocity impact: (a) Energy absorption and (b) Maximum load.
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Figure 16 shows the experimental results of the energy absorption capability and maximum load
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of meta-sandwich plates (ρ = 30% and 50%) subjected to a 40J impact load. For the higher

impact energy, Isomax meta-sandwich plate shows the highest energy absorption capability for
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the sandwich plates with the relative density of ρ = 30%. However, for the higher relative

densities, octet meta-sandwich plate illustrates the highest energy absorption capability. The

reason is both Isomax and octet meta-sandwich plates are controlled by a local failure mode. The

buckling of vertical platen struts occurs more in Isomax core compared to octet ones. The

buckling makes the sandwich plate deform further and absorb more energy. By increasing the

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relative density, octet meta-sandwich plates show higher energy absorption capability than

Isomax meta-sandwich plate. This is due to the fact that Isomax core is stiffer than the octet core,

leading to less global deformation. In addition, by increasing the relative density, vertical walls

inside the Isomax become more and more supported by the inclined walls and therefore less

buckling is possible inside the cells of the core.

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Figure 16: Impact properties of the 3D printed meta-sandwich plates including Isomax, octet, cubic and auxetic

cores under a 40J impact energy: (a) Energy absorption and (b) Maximum load.

The octet meta-sandwich plate with ρ = 30% has a lower maximum contact force under the

impact load, which can have applications in minimizing the impact force applied to the structures

protected with 3D printed shock absorber. It is worth mentioning that auxetic sandwich plates

have lower energy absorption capability than the other sandwich plates. In addition, the energy
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absorption capability of Isomax meta-sandwich plate decreases by increasing the relative density,

since local failure is a more dominate failure mode for higher relative densities than the global

failure which occurs in lower densities.

4. Conclusions

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A numerical methodology, validated by experimental testing, was developed in this study to

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optimize the quasi-static and dynamic energy absorption performance of a new generation of 3D

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printed lightweight sandwich structures made of metamaterial cores. Four different core

topologies were 3D printed out of PLA and tested under quasi-static 3-point bending and

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dynamic low-velocity impact conditions. The structural responses, failure mechanisms, flexural
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stiffness, multi-hit and energy absorption capabilities of these meta-sandwich structures were

compared with their counterparts made of an auxetic cellular core. It is found that the core
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topology and geometrical parameters of the meta-sandwich structures play significant roles on
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their failure mechanism and energy absorption capability. As an example, for Ls = 3, octet meta-

sandwich beams with ρ = 30% showed a higher quasi-static energy absorption capability than the
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other cell topologies, while the contact load during the 3-point bending test was also higher than
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the meta-sandwich beams made of the other cell topologies. However, for Ls = 1.8, Isomax and

cubic meta-sandwich beams with ρ = 50% showed a higher static energy absorption capability
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than the other meta-sandwich beams. However, for dynamic energy absorption, Isomax, octet

and cubic meta-sandwich plates had almost the same ability, all higher than the auxetic core for

low impact energy. For higher impact energy, octet meta-sandwich plates show higher energy

absorption performance. Regarding the multi-hit capability, 3D printing direction plays an

important role on multi-hit resistance of meta-sandwich plates. Finally, the designed meta-

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sandwich structures could lead to significant weight reduction along with optimized energy

absorption capability without compromising their other mechanical performance.

Acknowledgments

H. Yazdani Sarvestani is supported by McGill University and an FRQNT (Fonds de recherche

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Nature et technologies) postdoctoral fellowship award. A.H. Akbarzadeh acknowledges the

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financial support provided by McGill University and Natural Science and Engineering Research

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Council of Canada (NSERC) through NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2016-04716. Authors

also acknowledge the collaborations of Mathieu Lapointe, Jeremi Bussieres and Thomas Guinot

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from Composites Development Center of Quebec (CDCQ) for conducting 3-point bending tests
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as well as the discussion with Prof. R. Boukhili and Ms. R. Ouadday at École Polytechnique de

Montréal for the low-velocity impact tests.

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Author contributions

H. Yazdani Sarvestani contributes to design, analysis, performing tests, interpreting the data and

writing the manuscript.

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A.H. Akbarzadeh contributes to the main idea of the paper, design, interpreting the data and

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writing the manuscript.

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A. Mirbolghasemi contributes to design, performing tests and writing the manuscript.
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K. Hermenean contributes to 3D printing and writing the manuscript.
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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

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Graphical abstract
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 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Highlights

 A comprehensive study was developed to determine the preferred geometry of architected

3D-printed meta-sandwich structures.

 We 3D printed architected sandwich beams and plates of different metamaterial cellular

cores and conducted quasi-static and low-velocity impact tests.

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 The structures with Isomax metamaterial cellular cores had a higher level of energy

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absorption capability.

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 A numerical methodology, analytical formulation and experimental testing were developed

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for a new generation of architected sandwich structures.
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