j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

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

Original Article

Compression behaviors of the bio-inspired

hierarchical lattice structure with improved
mechanical properties and energy absorption
capacity

Mingzhi Wang a,b,*, Junchao Zhang a,b, Weidong Wang a,b,**, Libo Gao a,b
a
School of Mechano-Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an 710071, China
b
CityU-Xidian Joint Laboratory of Micro/Nano Manufacturing, Shenzhen 518057, China

article info abstract

Article history: Nature materials usually possess unique hierarchical structures, like spongy bone, tendon
Received 6 December 2021 and bamboo, and often exhibit remarkable mechanical properties. In this paper, inspired
Accepted 8 February 2022 by the structural hierarchy of biological materials, the novel configuration design of unit
Available online 15 February 2022 cell with inner hierarchy was developed. The new lattice configuration takes advantage of
the space filling and volume utilization of original BCC structure. The hierarchical lattices
Keywords: with 5
5
5 unit cells were manufactured by digital light processing (DLP) printing
Lattice materials technique, using a hard-tough resin material. Numerical simulation and quasi-static
Additive manufacturing experiment were performed to investigate the mechanical performance and deformation
Structural hierarchy mechanisms of the lattice structures. The novel lattice configuration exhibits superior
Bio-inspired materials mechanical properties and enhanced energy absorption capacity with respect to conven-
Mechanical properties tional BCC lattice, e.g. when loading along x-axis, the improvement can be 38.9% for spe-
cific stiffness, 36.5% for specific energy absorption (SEA) and 73.1% for the crash load
efficiency (CLE). Besides, the enhancement of mechanical performance and energy ab-
sorption capacity is more strong when loading along the z-axis. The mechanical interaction
effect between structural hierarchy, e.g. master and slave cells, is proved to be the main
reason that contributes to the enhancement of mechanical properties of hierarchical lat-
tices. The designed novel configuration of hierarchical lattice will enrich the current lattice
systems and promote the development of multifunctional applications in the future.
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

* Corresponding author.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: wangmz@xidian.edu.cn (M. Wang), wangwd@mail.xidian.edu.cn (W. Wang).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2022.02.046
2238-7854/© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
2756 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1
1. Introduction
Lattice structures have been widely used in transportation,
marine, aerospace and other industrial fields, for their excel-
lent mechanical performance, as well as higher design and
manufacturing flexibilities [1e5]. The rapid advances of ad-
ditive manufacturing (AM) technologies has greatly stimu-
lated the tremendous interests in developing novel lattices
with unique mechanical and physical properties, thus making
them very promising for many leading applications [6e9]. For
instance, the ability to manufacture the lattice structure with
high specific strength and stiffness (MPa,mm3/g), which is
usually the optimal design criteria in the aerospace field
[10e12].
In the past few decades, numerous efforts have been made
by the researchers [13e22], and a broad range of lattices with
various cell topologies have been proposed and manufac-
tured. Besides, the mechanical properties of those lattices
have been optimized, so that they can satisfy the different
functionality requirements. Among these previous works, the
body-centered cubic (BCC) [13e15], octet [16], rhombic do-
decahedron [17,18], and their corresponding derived lattice
configurations [19e21] were widely investigated. Tancogne-
Dejean et al. [22] investigated the compression responses of
a modified BCC lattice with different relative density. They
found that, the use of tapped beam can significantly improve
the specific mechanical properties, e.g. the increase of Young's
modulus and specific energy absorption (SEA) up to 70% and
45%, respectively. Li et al. [23] proposed a novel design strategy
for the unit cell of lattice structures, e.g. the triangular prism,
quadrangular prism and hexagonal prism, of which the
manufacturing constraints and tight spatial arrangement
were considered. Besides, the effect of nodes freedom on
mechanical properties and energy absorption of lattice
structures was systematically investigated. Zhou et al. [24]
established an innovative design strategy for the self-
supporting lattices, and the geometry constraints in additive
manufacturing process were considered. The design of unit
cell is inspired by the multi-fold rotational symmetry of
crystallography, which enables the rational change of defor-
mation type of lattice structures in a stepwise mode. Bai et al.
[25] proposed a strategy to tailor the mechanical properties of
lattices by rotating the octahedral structure along stress-
loading axis. The influence of pose angle on relative density
and mechanical properties under axial compression was fully
investigated. Besides, the relative density was reduced and
SEA was improved with respect to the original BCC structure.
Li et al. [26] established an extended BCC lattice, by offsetting
the position of body center. The nonlinear discriminant and
pattern recognition algorithms were used, in order to find the
deformation patterns with optimal energy absorption capac-
ity. Alomar et al. [12] proposed a circular cell-based lattice
structure, of which the unit cell consists identical circles along
two perpendicular planes. Numerical and experimental re-
sults indicate that, the new structure possess evenly distrib-
uted stress, as well as higher load-bearing capacity, with
respect to the BCC lattice. The hybrid arrangement of four
types of lattice unit cells with obvious discrepancies was
proposed by Lei et al. [27], and the corresponding load-bearing
capacity was investigated. Results revealed that, the spatial
arrangement pattern and the difference of cell performance
have significant effects on the overall mechanical properties.
These previous works were mainly based on the modification
of the traditional lattice structures, and have shown great
potential in many different fields [28e31]. While, it's still
necessary to investigate the novel lattice configurations, e.g.
taking the inspiration from biological materials [32e34], that
would bring better performance characteristics.
The nature inspired hierarchical design is one of the
most attractive strategies to enhance the mechanical
properties of synthetic materials that beyond their original
limitations [32e36]. Over millions of years' evolution, the
microstructures of biological materials usually possess very
strong and tough mechanical properties that far better than
the conventional artificial materials [35,37]. As seen in
Fig. 1, the structural hierarchy can be observed for many
biological materials, such as spongy bone [33,38], bamboo
[34,39], tendon [40,41], nacre [42] and wheat's graded
structures [34,43] (as shown in Fig. 1 aee, respectively). The
excellent mechanical properties of those biological mate-
rials are mainly ascribe to their inner structural hierarchy
(as shown in Fig. 1) [35], and thus providing valuable in-
spirations to develop the man-made structural materials.
Until now, researchers mainly focused on the hierarchical
design of honeycombs [44e47] and composites [48e50], and
relatively few attentions were paid on the lattice structures
with structural hierarchy. Dong [51] investigated the
compression behaviors of self-similar hierarchical octet-
truss lattice structure, and found that the hierarchical lat-
tice have very competitive mechanical properties when it
was compared with the other cellular materials [51]. The
mechanical performance and potential deformation mech-
anism of octet-truss lattice with self-similar hierarchy were
further revealed by means of numerical simulation, theo-
retical analysis and axial compression experiment [52,53].
Their works [52,53] implied that the bio-inspired hierar-
chical strategy can be used to approximate the unique
mechanical performance that are usually unachievable for
traditional materials. Besides, the specific strength will in-
crease with hierarchical order through manipulating the
strut slenderness ratios and lattice configurations [53].
Therefore, it's very significant to develop the new hierar-
chical lattices with high specific stiffness and strength, that
are conducive to the multifunctional applications in the
future.
In the present work, inspired by the hierarchical structures
of biological materials, a novel configuration design of unit
cell with inner strut hierarchy was developed. The new lattice
configuration takes account of the space filling and volume
utilization. The topological structure of the hierarchical lattice
was mathematically described, and manufactured by using
3D printing technique. Numerical simulation and axial
compression experiment were performed. The potential
deformation mechanism and the interaction between master
and slave cells were revealed. The novel lattice structure
shows competitive mechanical properties and energy ab-
sorption capacity with respect to the BCC structure, which will
enrich the current lattice systems and promote the develop-
ment of multifunctional applications.
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1
Fig. 1 e The nature hierarchical structures existed in biological materials: (a) bamboo [34,39]; (b) tendon [40,41]; (c) spongy
bone [33,38]; (d) nacre [42]; and (e) wheat's graded structure [34,43].
2. Geometrical design of the novel
hierarchical lattice structure
Figure 2 shows the design strategy of the novel lattice struc-
ture. The BCC lattice is a typical bending dominated structure,
and it has excellent mechanical performance [13,19]. Here,
another topology of BCC is considered from its periodic
structure, for better use of the inner space and the original
mechanical advantages. In Fig. 2a, the reinforcement of BCC
structure is first realized by its combination with a simple
cubic structure (SC), and it is defined as SCBCC. The length of
SCBCC unit cell is defined as L, and the rod diameter is d. Here,
the SCBCC has a simple hierarchy in its inner space, and it also
belongs to the strut-reinforced lattice structure [19,54]. In
Fig. 2b, the SCBCC structure is further scaled downward by 1/2
ratio (the scaled structure is denoted as SCBCC-2). Then, it is
combined with the original SCBCC, to form a more complex
2757
hierarchical structure, and the novel structure is denoted as
HSCBCC.
Figure 2c shows the planar view of the HSCBCC structure.
In the designed hierarchical lattice structures, the outer and
inner hierarchy are denoted as the master-cell and slave-cell,
respectively, as shown in Fig. 2. The length of the unit cell is L.
The rod diameter values of the master and slave cells can be
different. Here, dM and dS are used to represent the rod
diameter of the master and slave cells, respectively. Their
ratio is defined as g, and g ¼ dS =dM . The HSCBCC structure
evolves to SCBCC lattice, when g ¼ 0. In the study, the bio-
inspired hierarchy theory is adopted to design the novel
configuration of lattice structure, so that the mechanical
performance and energy absorption capacity can be
improved. The compression mechanical properties and en-
ergy absorption of the conventional BCC lattice, the designed
hierarchical SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice structures will be fully
investigated.
2758 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1

3. Experiment and simulation

3.1. Fabrication using 3D printing

The fabrication of specimens was implemented by using a

commercial digital light processing (DLP) 3D printer (NOVA 3D
Bene 4). The CAD models of the specimens were first designed,
as shown in Fig. 3a, and then the geometry files were sliced
and imported into the 3D printing system in stereolithography
format (STL). In the study, the optimized printing parameters
were obtained by a number of pre-printing samples, so that
the inconsistencies of each sample can be avoided. Table 1
listed the resolution of 3D printer and the printing parame-
ters used in the manufacturing of the specimens. After the
printing, each samples were carefully washed by isopropyl
alcohol and then underwent 30 min curing by UV light at a
temperature of 60 C. The designed CAD models of BCC, SCBCC
and HSCBCC lattice structures are shown in Fig. 3a, and the
corresponding 3D printed samples are shown in Fig. 3b.
The hard-tough resin was used as the matrix materials, in
the printing process of the samples. This hard-tough resin
belongs to a urethane acrylate photocurable resin, and it's
very suitable for the DLP printers. It has very high impact
strength, and strong toughness that similar to the ABS fila-
ment. The actual density obtained from experiment is 1.232 g/
cm3, and this value is measured from the samples by using the
printing parameters listed in Table 1. The dog-bone shaped
tensile specimen was used to obtain the basic mechanical
Fig. 2 e Design strategy of the hierarchical lattice structure:
properties of the resin material. The elastic modulus, yield
(a) BCC and SCBCC; (b) HSCBCC; (c) front view of HSCBCC.
strength (0.2% offset) and true stress strain points obtained
from the tensile experiment are listed in Table 2. The
The relative density of typical BCC lattice can be expressed manufacturing parameters for tensile specimen and lattice
in Eq. (1). samples are the same, as shown in Table 1.
In the study, to further reveal the relationship between

pffiffiffi   2  
4 3L d pffiffiffi d 2 mechanical properties and relative density of lattices, four
rBCC ¼ 3

p ¼ 3p (1)
L 2 L groups of lattice structures with different rod diameter values
were manufactured. The rod diameter ranges from 0.55 mm to
where, d is the rod diameter, and L is length of unit cell.
0.65 mm, and their corresponding geometry parameters are
The relative density of SCBCC lattice can be expressed in
listed in Table 3. All the samples have the same cell dimen-
Eq. (2).
sion, as L ¼ 7.5 mm, and the fabricated lattice structure con-
pffiffiffi  pffiffiffi   2 pffiffiffi! 2 sists of 5
5
5 unit cells in x, y and z directions, as shown in
4 3L þ 2 1 þ 2 L d pffiffiffi 1 þ 2 d
rSCBCC ¼
p ¼ 3þ (2) Fig. 3. The geometry coordinates were also defined, as shown
L3 2 2 L
in Fig. 3, and the definition of coordinate obeys the right-hand
The relative density of HSCBCC lattice can be expressed in principle. Here, for the HSCBCC structure, the same rod
Eq. (3). diameter is used for the manufacturing convenience (g ¼ 1).
 The effect of g value on the interaction effect between master
pffiffiffi pffiffiffi "   2 #
4 3L þ 2 1 þ 2 L dM
2
dS and slave cells, and the mechanical properties of those lattice
rHSCBCC ¼
p þ structures will be discussed in Section 4.2. The mass of the
L3 2 2
pffiffiffi! " 2  2 # (3) lattice structures with different rod diameters were also
pffiffiffi 1 þ 2 dM dS
¼ 3þ p þ measured by using the high-precision electronic scale, and
2 L L
results are listed in Table 3.
where, dM and dS are the rod diameter of the master and slave
cells, respectively. When the rod diameter values of the 3.2. Compression experiment
master and slave cells are the same (e.g. g ¼ 1, and dM ¼ dS ¼ d),
the relative density of HSCBCC structure can be simplified as The in-situ compression experiment was implemented by
pffiffiffi  pffiffiffi  using an electro-mechanical testing machine, with load cell
 2 h  
4 3L þ 2 1 þ 2 L d pffiffiffi  pffiffiffi i d 2
rHSCBCC ¼
2p ¼ 2 3 þ 1þ 2 p 2 kN. The experiment was performed at room temperature.
L3 L L Figure 4 shows the platform for the compression experiment.
(4) The lattice specimens were placed in the center of the support
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1 2759

Fig. 3 e The lattice samples: (a) CAD models; (b) 3D printed samples.

x, y and z of the geometry coordinate in Fig. 3), because of the

symmetry of geometric structure. So, only one loading di-
Table 1 e The resolution of 3D printer and the printing
rection is enough to obtain the compression mechanical
parameters used in the manufacturing of specimens.
properties of the BCC lattice. While, the bio-inspired hierar-
Parameter Value
chical structures, SCBCC and HSCBCC, are anisotropic in
Printing speed MAX 55 mm/h nature. As can be seen from Figs. 2 and 3 that, two loading
Layer resolution 0.025e0.01 mm
directions are needed to fully quantify the compression
Platform dimension 130*80*150 mm
mechanical properties of SCBCC and HSCBCC structures.
Bottom exposure time 15 s
Normal exposure time 1.8 s Here, the selected loading directions in experiment are along
Layer thickness 0.05 mm the x and z axis, respectively. For the BCC structure, the
Transfer speed 120 mm/min loading direction in compression experiment is along the
XY print resolution 0.051 mm x-axis.

3.3. Finite element simulation

plate, and loading rate was 4 mm/min. The upper plate moves
downward, and it withdraws until the specimen is densified.
The surface of plate was lubricated, so that the friction can be
reduced and lateral deformation can be avoided. During the
experiment, the deformation process and associated failure
behavior of the lattice structures were recorded by using a
high-resolution video camera.
It's noted that, the BCC lattice possesses isotropic me-
chanical properties along the three principal directions (e.g.
To evaluate the deformation behaviors of lattice structures,
the finite element (FE) method has been widely used in many
previous works [16,27]. In the study, the Abaqus/Explicit
commercial codes [55] were used, to simulate the compres-
sion behaviors of the lattice structure under quasi-static
compression. Figure 5 shows the established FE model, ge-
ometry coordinate and boundary constraints. Here, for the
simplicity purpose, only the FE model of HSCBCC lattice under

Table 2 e The basic mechanical properties of the resin material.

Elastic Modulus Yield strength Plastic stress 38.09 42.97 45.12 44.73 43.75 43.16 44.73 46.88
(MPa) (MPa) (MPa)
1649.7 45.4 Plastic strain 0 0.0146 0.0338 0.0556 0.0773 0.109 0.148 0.183
2760 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1

Table 3 e Geometry parameters and mass of the 3D printed lattice samples.

Number specimen L (mm) d (mm) Dimension Mass (g)
Group-1 BCC 7.5 0.50 5
5
5 1.551
SCBCC 3.492
HSCBCC 4.055
Group-2 BCC 7.5 0.55 5
5
5 2.050
SCBCC 3.291
HSCBCC 4.412
Group-3 BCC 7.5 0.60 5
5
5 2.358
SCBCC 3.720
HSCBCC 5.363
Group-4 BCC 7.5 0.65 5
5
5 2.685
SCBCC 4.223
HSCBCC 5.863

axial compression is shown, and the loading direction is along
the z-axis, as shown in Fig. 5. As it was discussed in Section 3.2
that, two different loading directions (along the x and z axis)
need to be considered for the SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice
structures. The FE model, meshes and boundary constraints
are the same for the BCC and SCBCC lattice structures, and the
change of loading direction can be easily realized by rotating
90 of the lattice structure along the x-axis.
The lower plate was fixed, and the upper plate was moved
vertically downward, up to the prior defined maximum
displacement value. The indenter and the lower plate were
modelled using R3D4 element type, and the lattice structure
was modelled using beam elements, B31 element type. The
material model was assumed as elastoplastic, and the actual
material density, 1.232 g/cm3 was used. The elastic modulus
and plastic stress strain curve in Table 3 were used in FE
simulations. The use of beam element has been proved to be
very effective in predicting the deformation behaviors of lat-
tice structures, and it can greatly reduce the computation
costs [27,56]. The general contact type was considered, with a
friction coefficient value of 0.3. All the geometry dimensions
of specimens are the same with the 3D printed samples. The
minimum element size of 0.1 mm was used for the lattice
structure, and convergence of the simulation model was
verified.
The effectiveness of the established FE model was veri-
fied by comparing the loadedisplacement curve between
experiment and simulation, as shown in Fig. 6. Here, for the
simplicity purpose, only the loading direction along x-axis is
shown, and the rod diameter used here is 0.60 mm. As can
be seen from Fig. 6 that, the loadedisplacement curves ob-
tained from FE simulations are very close to the experiment.
Although very small discrepancy can be seen, which may be
ascribe to the neglecting of the potential damage failure in
modelling process [19,56]. Results indicate the established
FE model is effective and reliable. In the study, the estab-
lished FE model will be used to simulate the deformation
behaviors of BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC structures under axial
compression.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Compression behaviors and mechanical properties
The experiment compression stress strain curves of BCC,
SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice structures are compared. Figure 7a
shows the compression curves for loading along the x-axis.
Figure 7b shows the compression curves for loading along the
z-axis. In Fig. 7, for each lattice type, the stress strain curves
obtained from two independent compression experiments are
plotted together, and it is proved that the repeatability of
experiment is good. The red arrows in Fig. 7 imply the relative

Fig. 5 e FE model for simulating the compression behaviors

Fig. 4 e The in-situ compression experiment platform. of the lattice structures.
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1 2761

but also indicates the total energy absorption by enclosed area

Fig. 6 e Comparison of the compression
loadedisplacement curves of lattice structures between
experiment and simulation.
position between lattice unit cell and loading direction. It's
noted that, the compression stress strain curves not only
reflect the evolution and fluctuation trend of the force
response (e.g. stiffness and strengh) of the lattice structure,
under the curve.
In Fig. 7, the compression curves of BCC, SCBCC and
HSCBCC lattice structures exhibit obviously three evolution
stages, and they are the initial elastic stage, yield and plas-
ticity stage and finally the densification stage. In the initial
elastic stage, the compression stress increases linearly with
the initial compression displacement, and then the yield of
structures happens. In the plastic stage, the progressive
collapse and failure occurs, under relative large compression
deformation. In the finally densification stage, the struts will
contact at each other and the overall lattice structure behaves
like the matrix material, and at the same time the stress will
increase quickly.
It's noted that, the compression curves are relatively
smooth when the loading direction is along the x-axis. Be-
sides, no obvious initial peak stress can be observed in this
situation. While, the compression curves exhibit obvious
oscillation and very obvious initial yield and peak stress, when
the loading direction is along z-axis. That's to say, the defor-
mation mechanism may be changed for the SCBCC and
HSCBCC structures, when the compression process is along
the different directions. Overall, the stress strain curves of
BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC exhibit very long stress plateau until
densification occurs.
In Fig. 7, the oscillation of compression stress is relatively
small for the SCBCC structure in both loading directions, and
the stress response is very smooth for the BCC structure. While,
the stress evolution experiences obvious increase for the
HSCBCC structure, e.g. the increase of compression stress at
the strain around 0.5 when loading direction is along the x-axis,
and the obvious peak stress can be observed at the strain round
0.4 when loading direction is along the z-axis. Here, the in-
crease of stress response during loading process may be ascribe
to the interaction effect between the master and slave cells of
the hierarchical structure, and this problem will be further
discussed in Section 4.2. In Fig. 7, the HSCBCC structure show
the highest initial stiffness and compression stress, and the
mechanical properties of SCBCC structure is also larger than
the conventional BCC lattice. That's to say, the bio-inspired
hierarchical design proposed in the study is effective, and it
benefits the improvement of mechanical strength and energy
absorption capacity of the lattice structure.
Table 4 listed the mechanical properties of BCC, SCBCC and
HSCBCC lattice structures, and those values are extracted
from the experiment compression stress strain curves. In

Table 4 e Mechanical properties of the hierarchical lattice

structures.
Lattice Stiffness Strength Specific Specific
type (MPa) (MPa) stiffness strength
(MPa,cm3/g) (MPa,cm3/g)
BCC 0.0874 0.0061 2.9708 0.2063
Loading along x-direction
SCBCC 0.2433 0.0168 5.0151 0.3463
Fig. 7 e The compression stress strain curves of BCC, HSCBCC 0.3174 0.0214 4.1284 0.2782
SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice structures under two different Loading along z-direction
loading directions: (a) loading along the x-axis; (b) loading SCBCC 3.8882 0.2578 80.1474 5.3138
HSCBCC 5.0098 0.3061 65.1569 3.9811
along the z-axis.
2762 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1
Fig. 8 e Comparison of the mechanical properties between BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice structures: in (a), (b), (c) and (d)
the loading direction is along x-axis; in (e), (f), (g) and (h) the loading direction is along the z-axis.
Table 4, the specific stiffness and specific strength values are
calculated by dividing the stiffness and strength with their
corresponding relative density. Figure 8 shows the compari-
son of mechanical properties between those three lattice
structures.
As can be seen from Table 4 that, the HSCBCC lattice
structure has the highest mechanical parameters, in both
loading directions, e.g. x and z axis. When the loading direc-
tion is along the x-axis, HSCBCC and SCBCC structures have
higher mechanical properties than the conventional BCC
structure, with 178.5% (SCBCC) and 263.3% (HSCBCC)
improvement for the stiffness value, 176.9% (SCBCC) and
252.6% (HSCBCC) improvement for the strength value. When
the loading direction is along the z-axis, the improvement of
mechanical properties are more strong, as 3354.9% (SCBCC)
and 4351.5% (HSCBCC) for the stiffness value, 2355.1% (SCBCC)
and 2815.2% (HSCBCC) for the strength value.
In terms of the specific mechanical parameters, the
HSCBCC and SCBCC structure also show higher values than
the conventional BCC structure. When the loading direction is
along the x-axis, the improvement of the specific mechanical
properties are 38.9% (HSCBCC) and 68.8% (SCBCC) for specific
stiffness, and 34.9% (HSCBCC) and 67.9% (SCBCC) for the
specific strength. When the loading direction is along the
z-axis, the mechanical improvement are 1602.8% (HSCBCC)
and 1994.6% (HSCBCC) for specific stiffness, 1388.4% (SCBCC)
and 1015.1% (HSCBCC) for the specific strength. Results indi-
cate the bio-inspired hierarchical design strategy actually
improved the load bearing capacity of the lattice structure.
4.2. Deformation and failure mechanism
Figures 9e11 show the deformation behaviors of BCC, SCBCC
and HSCBCC lattice structures under axial compression,
respectively in Fig. 9 (XZ-view) and Fig. 10 (XY-view) for
loading along x-axis, and in Fig. 11 (XZ-view) for loading along
z-axis. The deformation behaviors obtained from FE simula-
tions are also plotted together, to further reveal the potential
deformation and failure mechanisms of the lattice structures.
It's noted that, the XY and XZ views of BCC, SCBCC and
HSCBCC lattice structures during compression process are
different when the loading direction is along x-axis. Here, the
XY-views of the deformation processes obtained from FE
simulations are also presented in Fig. 11 for the BCC, SCBCC
and HSCBCC structures.
As can be seen from Figs. 9e11 that, all the structures un-
dergo the following stages, as the initial elastic, plastic bulk-
ing, cell collapse, strut interaction and finally the densification
process. Besides, the deformation modes of lattice structures
obtained from FE simulations are very consistent with the
experiment, which indicates the established FE model is
effective. In Fig. 9, when the loading direction is along the
x-axis, the lattice structures exhibit very uniform deformation
in the initial stage (e.g. at the strain ε ¼ 0.2). With the increase
of compression strain (e.g. at the strain ε ¼ 0.4), the first layer
and the last layer appear obvious collapse for BCC, SCBCC and
HSCBCC structures. Then, the middle layers start to collapse
gradually (e.g. at the strain ε ¼ 0.6), and finally the further
densification happens.
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1 2763

Fig. 9 e The XZ-views of the deformation behaviors of BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice structures, and the loading direction
is along the x-axis.

To further reveal the deformation modes of those lattice continuously until the densification happens. The layer-by-
structures, the XY-views of the BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC layer collapse processes and the complex interaction effects
structures are also plotted, as shown in Fig. 10. As can be seen between master and slave cells indicate that, the deformation
from Fig. 10 that, the obvious X-type shear band can be mode of SCBCC and HSCBCC lattices trends to be the stretch
observed for BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC structures. Results in- dominated.
dicates that, the deformation mode of BCC, SCBCC and The GibsoneAshby model [6,57] has been widely used to
HSCBCC is bending dominated, when the loading direction is predict the mechanical properties and explain the deforma-
along the x-axis. This explains the reason why the relatively tion mechanism of porous structures. According to the
smooth and long stress plateau of compression curves can be GibsoneAshby model [6,57], the deformation of porous
observed for the BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice structures, structures will be bending dominated when the exponent is 2,
when the loading direction is along the x-axis. and the deformation is stretch dominated when the exponent
In Fig. 11, the SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice structures show is 1 [6,57]. The relationship between relative density and
obvious non-uniform deformation behaviors at the initial relative stiffness of BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice structures
loading stage (e.g. at the strain ε ¼ 0.2). For both the SCBCC and can be expressed in Eq. (5).
HSCBCC lattice structures, the apex struts of the master cells  nx
collapse first, resulting very high concertation of the stress Ex r
¼ Cx (5a)
distribution. With the increase of compression displacement Es rs
(e.g. at the strain ε ¼ 0.4), the salve cells start to resist the
 nz
deformation, and this is especially obvious for the HSCBCC Ez r
¼ Cz (5b)
structure. Then, each layer of the lattice structure collapses Es rs
2764 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1

Fig. 10 e The XY-views of the deformation behaviors of BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice structures, and the loading direction
is along the x-axis.

Fig. 11 e The deformation behaviors of SCBCC, HSCBCC lattice structures under axis compression, and the loading direction
is along z-axis (in XZ view).
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1 2765

cell located at the center of the 5
5
5 multi-cell structures

Table 5 e Fitting parameters of the relationship between
relative density and relative stiffness.
Lattice type Cx nx Cz
BCC 0.1322 2.0070 e e
SCBCC 0.0501 1.8259 0.2728
HSCBCC 0.1625 2.3500 0.1287
where, E and Es are the stiffness of the lattice structure and
matrix material. r and rs are the density of the lattice structure
and matrix material. C and n are the power law fitting pa-
rameters. In Eq. (5), the superscript x and z indicates the values
are corresponding to the loading directions along x and z axis,
respectively.
Table 5 listed the fitting results of the BCC, SCBCC and
HSCBCC structures using GibsoneAshby model [57] in Eq. (5).
As can be seen from Table 5 that, when the loading direction is
along the x-axis, values of exponent are close to 2, which in-
dicates the bending dominated the deformation in the
compression process. When the loading direction is along
z-axis, the values of exponent are more close to 1. Results
indicate the deformation mode of SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice
structures tend to stretch dominated, when the loading di-
rection is along z-axis.
In the designed hierarchical lattice structures, the inter-
action effect between master and slave cells is also important
factor that contributes to the enhancement of mechanical
properties of lattice structures. To further reveal the interac-
tion effect between master and slave cells of the designed
hierarchical structures, the deformation processes of the unit
are present. Besides, the corresponding evolution and oscil-
lation of compression stress strain curves are also plotted
nz
together, and they are respectively shown in Fig. 12 for loading
along the x-axis, and in Fig. 13 for loading along the z-axis.
1.4350 In Fig. 12a, the stress strain curve of BCC structure is very
1.3265
smooth with long plateau. The BCC lattice has hollow inner
space, and the deformation process is quite simple. High
stress concentration distributed on the nodes are observed,
and it is caused by the bending deformation process of the
BCC structure. In Fig. 12b, for the SCBCC structure, the high
stress distributed on the strut of the master cell at initial
compression stress plateau region, e.g. at the stages I and II,
and the stress on the slave cell is very small. With the increase
of compression strain, the slave cell begin to deform, and
obvious increase of compression stress was observed in stage
III. Then, the high stress region transfers from the center of
the strut to the node gradually, e.g. at the stage IV. The similar
phenomenon can also be observed in Fig. 12c for the HSCBCC
structure. Here, it's obvious that, the increase of the
compression stress and mechanical performance of lattice
structure is caused by the further deformation of slave cell.
That's to say, the hierarchical design is effective, and the
interaction effect between master and slave cells mainly
contributes to the improvement of mechanical properties of
lattice structures.
In Fig. 13, the interaction effect between master and slave
cells also contributes to the increase of compression stress of
hierarchical lattice structures, when loading direction is along
the z-axis. At the initial peak stress of compression stress

Fig. 12 e The deformation of unit cell and evolution of compression stress during the axial compression process, and the
loading direction is along the x-axis: (a) BCC; (b) SCBCC; (c) HSCBCC.
2766 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1
Fig. 13 e The deformation of unit cell and evolution of
compression stress during the axial compression process,
and the loading direction is along the z-axis: (a) SCBCC; (b)
HSCBCC.
strain curve (e.g. at stage I), very high stress distributed at the
apex angle region of the master cell. With the increase of
compression strain, the apex angle collapsed, resulting the
sharp decrease of initial compression stress. Then, the slave
cell starts to resist the compression deformation, and the
compression stress increases accordingly, e.g. stage II for
SCBCC and stage III for HSCBCC. So, when the slave cell starts
to work, the compression stress and mechanical properties of
lattice structures will increase accordingly. The above phe-
nomenon explains the underlying enforcement mechanism of
the designed hierarchical structures. Besides, the proposed
bio-inspired hierarchical design and interaction effect be-
tween master and slave cells benefit the improvement of
mechanical properties of lattice structures.
In Fig. 14, the diameter ratio l between the master and
slave cells of HSCBCC lattice structure is gradually changed
from 0.4, 0.8 to 1.0, and its influence on the corresponding
compression stress strain curve and mechanical properties
are investigated. Here, the rod diameter of master cell is fixed
at 0.6 mm, and the rod diameter of slave cell is gradually
varied by changing the l value. When l is 0.0, the HSCBCC
lattice structure reduces to SCBCC. The comparison of me-
chanical properties between HSCBCC and SCBCC lattices has
been described in Section 4.1 (e.g. in Fig. 8). When l value is 1.0,
the rod diameter between master and slave cells are the same,
as dM ¼ dS . For the simplicity purpose, only the results
obtained from x-axis are shown. The similar trends can also
be observed when loading along the z-axis. In Fig. 14, the
compression curves are obtained from the FE simulations.
As can be seen from Fig. 14 that, the compression stress
response, specific stiffness and specific strength will increase
monotonously with the increasing of l value. This phenome-
non further proved that, the interaction effect between master
and slave cells can be regarded as the enhancement mecha-
nism of the design hierarchical lattice structure. Besides,
when l value is varied from 0.4 to 1.0, the compression stress,
specific stiffness and strength are greatly improved with
respect to the BCC lattice, e.g. when l value is 1.0, the
maximum improvements are 145.4% for the specific stiffness
and 50.4% for specific strength. Here, the effect of l value on
SEA of HSCBCC lattice is also shown in Fig. 14, and it shows
similar raising trend with l value increases, e.g. the maximum
improvement is about 163.8% with respect to original BCC
lattice (the definition of SEA will be described in Section 4.3).
Therefore, through the variation of diameter ratio l between
slave and master cells, the designed hierarchical lattice ex-
hibits tunable mechanical properties and energy absorption
capacity. Results indicate the hierarchical design is very
effective.
4.3. Energy absorption capacity
The energy absorption capacity is also very important in-
dicators, and it can be used to characterize the compression
performance of lattice structures [19,56]. With respect to the
total energy absorbed (TEA) of the lattice structure, the spe-
cific energy absorption (SEA) indicates the absorbed energy
per unit mass. The SEA of the lattice structure can be defined
as [3,56].
Z U
Pi du
TEA
SEA ¼ ¼ 0
(6)
M M
where, M represents the total mass of the lattice structure.
The TEA of the lattice structure during experiment can be
expressed by the area under the compression loade
RU
displacement curve, as TEA ¼ Pi du, and u represents the
0
compression displacement, Pi is reaction load, and U is the
maximum displacement during the axial compression
experiment [19,56].
The energy absorption efficiency is usually expressed as
the ratio of energy absorbed by a material of structure, up to a
given strain, to the ideal energy absorber when both produced
the same perk of stress [56]. So, the energy absorption effi-
ciency can be expressed in Eq. (7).
Z ε
sðεÞdε
h¼ 0
(7)
s*
where, sðεÞ and ε represents the nominal stress and strain of
the lattice structure under axial compression process. s* is the
peak stress at the given strain. In Eq. (7), the maximum energy
efficiency is denoted as hmax , and the densification strain εd , is
defined as the strain value that corresponding to the
maximum energy absorption efficiency.
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1
Fig. 14 e Influence of diameter ratio l on the compression stress strain curve and mechanical properties of the hierarchical
lattice structures (loading along x-axis): (a) stress strain curve; (b) specific stiffness; (c) specific strength; (d) SEA.
The plateau stress is defined in Eq. (8) [19,56].
Z ε
sðεÞdε
spl ¼ 0
εd
The crash load efficiency (CLE) is defined as the ratio be-
tween plateau stress and initial peak stress. It reflects the
uniformity of the compression loadedisplacement curve. If
the CLE value is higher, it means more energy efficiency can be
obtained under the same level of transient loads. The defini-
tion of crash load efficiency is expressed in Eq. (9) [56].
spl
CLE ¼
spk
where, spl is the plateau stress and spk is the initial peak stress.
Figure 15 shows the comparison between experiment
compression stress strain curve, SEA curve and energy effi-
ciency curve for the BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC structures under
two different loading directions. Besides, the maximum effi-
ciency and corresponding densification strain are also clearly
shown. In Fig. 15, it shows that the maximum energy effi-
ciency of SCBCC and HSCBCC is higher than the BCC lattice
when the loading direction is along the z-axis.
As it was pointed out in the works [56,58], the densification
strain εd is usually determined as the strain value that corre-
sponding to the maximum energy absorption efficiency.
While, this may be effective for the simple lattice without the
complex hierarchy, e.g. the energy efficiency curve of BCC
2767
structure shown in Fig. 15a. While, for the hierarchical struc-
ture HSCBCC, the maximum energy absorption efficiency did
not appear at the end of the platform segment (e.g. the
(8) densification stage). As shown in Fig. 15 d and e, the maximum
energy efficiency appears at the middle part of the plateau
(e.g. at the strain around 0.5), where the interaction effect
between master and slave cells starts to work (as we have
discussed in Section 4.2, the stage III of Figs. 12 and 13). Hence,
we believe that the hierarchical design and interaction effect
between master and slave cells is conductive to reach the
maximum energy efficiency earlier, which is beneficial for the
energy absorption in real applications.
(9) Table 6 listed the SEA and CLE values of BCC, SCBCC and
HSCBCC lattice structures, with the rod diameter ranges from
0.50 mm to 0.65 mm. Figure 16a shows the comparison of SEA
values between BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC structures.
Figure 16b shows the comparison of CLE values of BCC, SCBCC
and HSCBCC structures. As can be seen from Fig. 16a that, the
SEA values of BCC, SCBCC and HSCBCC will increase with the
rod diameter increases. With respect to the conventional BCC
structure, the HSCBCC structure show highest SEA values,
with maximum improvement of 669.9% (e.g. when
d ¼ 0.65 mm and the loading direction is along z-axis). When
the loading direction is along x-axis, the HSCBCC also exhibit
highest SEA values, with maximum improvement of 36.5%.
The improvement of SEA values for SCBCC are smaller than
the HSCBCC structure, as 468.4% along the z-axis, and 4.2%
along the x-axis.
2768 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1

Fig. 15 e Comparison between the compression stress strain curve, SEA curve and energy absorption curve of the lattice
structures (d ¼ 0.50 mm): in (a) for BCC; in (b) and (c) for SCBCC; in (d) and (e) for HSCBCC.

In Fig. 16b, it shows the CLE value seems to decrease with

the rod diameter increases, when the loading direction is along Table 6 e Energy absorption properties of the designed
the x-axis. While, the CLE value show obvious oscillation when hierarchical lattice structure.
the loading direction is along the z-axis. Besides, HSCBCC Lattice d ¼ 0.50 d ¼ 0.55 d ¼ 0.60 d ¼ 0.65
structure exhibits highest CLE value when the loading direction type
is along the x-axis, and the maximum improvement of CLE SEA (J/g) BCC 0.2997 0.4180 0.5740 0.7210
value is 73.1% with respect to BCC lattice (e.g. when d ¼ 0.50). Loading along x-direction
Besides. when the loading direction is along the z-axis, the SCBCC 0.4678 0.4900 0.6080 0.7510
HSCBCC also exhibit higher CEL value than BCC lattice, with HSCBCC 0.5570 0.6130 0.7640 0.9840
Loading along z-direction
maximum improvement 17.1% (e.g. when d ¼ 0.60 mm). While,
SCBCC 2.7240 2.4500 3.9030 4.0980
SCBCC shows lower CLE values than the original BCC lattice, HSCBCC 2.9120 5.3200 5.4870 5.5510
e.g. even 7.7% decrease with respect to BCC structure, when CLE BCC 1.8827 1.60793 1.49251 1.40056
loading direction is along x-axis. This may be because the Loading along x-direction
structural hierarchy and interaction effect of HSCBCC is SCBCC 1.7385 1.8147 1.5667 1.3956
essentially stronger than the SCBCC lattice. Results indicate the HSCBCC 3.2598 2.4834 2.5169 2.4427
Loading along z-direction
developed novel configuration of structural hierarchy and
SCBCC 0.6844 0.5685 0.6981 0.6099
corresponding interaction effect can effectively improve the
HSCBCC 1.1561 1.3678 1.7472 1.5182
energy absorption capacity of lattice structure.
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1
Fig. 16 e Comparison of SEA and CLE values between BCC,
SCBCC and HSCBCC lattice structures: in (a) for SEA and in
(b) for CLE.
5. Conclusion
The novel configuration design of hierarchical lattice was
proposed based on the inspiration from biological materials.
The mechanical properties and energy absorption capacity
were investigated by using numerical and quasi-static
compression experiment, and potential deformation mecha-
nisms were revealed. The main conclusions are summarized
as the following: 1) the designed hierarchical lattice, SCBCC
and HSCBCC possess better load-bearing capacity and energy
absorption with respect to the original BCC lattice, e.g. when
loading along x-axis, the improvement can be 38.9% for specific
stiffness, 36.5% for specific energy absorption (SEA) and 73.1%
for the crash load efficiency (CLE). Besides, the enhancement of
mechanical performance and energy absorption capacity is
more strong when loading along the z-axis; 2) Hierarchical
lattice structure exhibit anisotropic mechanical properties,
and the deformation mechanism changes from bending to
stretching dominated when loading along different directions;
3) the enhancement of mechanical properties and energy ab-
sorption capacity of hierarchical lattice is mainly ascribing to
the interaction effect between structural hierarchy, e.g. the
interaction between master and slave cells; 4) through the
variation of diameter ratio l between slave and master cells,
2769
the designed hierarchical lattice exhibits tunable mechanical
properties and energy absorption capacity. Overall, the
designed novel configuration of lattice will enrich the current
lattice systems and promote the development of multifunc-
tional applications in the future.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
This project is supported by the Key Research and Develop-
ment Program of Shaanxi (Program Nos. 2020GY-252, 2021GY-
277), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
52005378), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities (XJS210401).
references
[1] Gümrük R, Mines RAW. Compressive behaviour of stainless
steel micro-lattice structures. Int J Mech Sci 2013;68:125e39.
[2] Xu S, Shen J, Zhou S, Huang X, Xie YM. Design of lattice
structures with controlled anisotropy. Mater Des
2016;93:443e7.
[3] Yang H, Cao X, Liao B, Wang G, Huang Z, Li Y. Mechanical
properties of bio-molecular inspired MnL2n cage-lattices:
simulations & experiments. Mater Sci Eng, A 2021;826.
[4] Isaenkova MG, Yudin AV, Rubanov AE, Osintsev AV,
Degadnikova LA. Deformation behavior modelling of
lattice structures manufactured by a selective laser
melting of 316L steel powder. J Mater Res Technol
2020;9(6):15177e84.
[5] Lu C, Zhang C, Wen P, Chen F. Mechanical behavior of Al-
Si10-Mg gyroid surface with variable topological parameters
fabricated via laser powder bed fusion. J Mater Res Technol
2021;15:5650e61.
[6] Xiao R, Li X, Jia H, Surjadi JU, Li J, Lin W, et al. 3D printing of
dual phase-strengthened microlattices for lightweight micro
aerial vehicles. Mater Des 2021;206.
[7] Liu C, Lertthanasarn J, Pham M-S. The origin of the boundary
strengthening in polycrystal-inspired architected materials.
Nat Commun 2021;12(1).
[8] Estrin Y, Krishnamurthy VR, Akleman E. Design of
architectured materials based on topological and
geometrical interlocking. J Mater Res Technol
2021;15:1165e78.
[9] Gohar S, Hussain G, Ilyas M, Ali A. Performance of 3D printed
topologically optimized novel auxetic structures under
compressive loading: experimental and FE analyses. J Mater
Res Technol 2021;15:394e408.
[10] Bici M, Brischetto S, Campana F, Ferro CG, Seclı̀ C, Varetti S,
et al. Development of a multifunctional panel for aerospace
use through SLM additive manufacturing. Procedia CIRP
2018;67:215e20.
[11] Nickels L. AM and aerospace: an ideal combination. Met
Powder Rep 2015;70(6):300e3.
[12] Alomar Z, Concli F. Compressive behavior assessment of a
newly developed circular cell-based lattice structure. Mater
Des 2021;205.
2770 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1
[13] Bai L, Gong C, Chen X, Sun Y, Xin L, Pu H, et al. Mechanical
properties and energy absorption capabilities of functionally
graded lattice structures: experiments and simulations. Int J
Mech Sci 2020;182.
[14] Bai L, Gong C, Chen X, Zheng J, Yang J, Li K, et al.
Heterogeneous compressive responses of additively
manufactured Ti-6Al-4V lattice structures by varying
geometric parameters of cells. Int J Mech Sci 2021;214.
[15] Chen X, Ji Q, Wei J, Tan H, Yu J, Zhang P, et al. Light-weight
shell-lattice metamaterials for mechanical shock absorption.
Int J Mech Sci 2020;169.
[16] Zhang P, Qi D, Xue R, Liu K, Wu W, Li Y. Mechanical design
and energy absorption performances of rational gradient
lattice metamaterials. Compos Struct 2021;277.
[17] Sun ZP, Guo YB, Shim VPW. Characterisation and
modeling of additively-manufactured polymeric hybrid
lattice structures for energy absorption. Int J Mech Sci
2021;191.
[18] Gorguluarslan RM, Gungor OU, Yıldız S, Erem E. Energy
absorption behavior of stiffness optimized graded lattice
structures fabricated by material extrusion. Meccanica
2021;56:2825e41.
[19] Wang Z, Zhou Y, Wang X, Wei K. Compression behavior of
strut-reinforced hierarchical latticedexperiment and
simulation. Int J Mech Sci 2021;210.
[20] Wang P, Yang F, Ru D, Zheng B, Fan H. Additive-
manufactured hierarchical multi-circular lattice structures
for energy absorption application. Mater Des 2021;210.
[21] Wang X, Zhu L, Sun L, Li N. Optimization of graded filleted
lattice structures subject to yield and buckling constraints.
Mater Des 2021;206.
[22] Tancogne-Dejean T, Spierings AB, Mohr D. Additively-
manufactured metallic micro-lattice materials for high
specific energy absorption under static and dynamic loading.
Acta Mater 2016;116:14e28.
[23] Li C, Lei H, Zhang Z, Zhang X, Zhou H, Wang P, et al.
Architecture design of periodic truss-lattice cells for additive
manufacturing. Addit Manuf 2020;34.
[24] Zhou H, Cao X, Li C, Zhang X, Fan H, Lei H, et al. Design of
self-supporting lattices for additive manufacturing. J Mech
Phys Solid 2021;148.
[25] Bai L, Zhang J, Xiong Y, Chen X, Sun Y, Gong C, et al.
Influence of unit cell pose on the mechanical properties of
Ti6Al4V lattice structures manufactured by selective laser
melting. Addit Manuf 2020;34.
[26] Li P, Yang F, Bian Y, Zhang S, Wang L. Deformation pattern
classification and energy absorption optimization of the
eccentric body centered cubic lattice structures. Int J Mech
Sci 2021;212.
[27] Lei H, Li C, Zhang X, Wang P, Zhou H, Zhao Z, et al.
Deformation behavior of heterogeneous multi-morphology
lattice core hybrid structures. Addit Manuf 2021;37.
[28] Wang X, Qin R, Chen B. Laser-based additively manufactured
bio-inspired crashworthy structure: energy absorption and
collapse behaviour under static and dynamic loadings. Mater
Des 2021;211.
[29] Song J, Tang Q, Feng Q, Ma S, Guo F, Han Q. Investigation on
the modelling approach for variable-density lattice
structures fabricated using selective laser melting. Mater Des
2021;212.
[30] Ngo TD, Kashani A, Imbalzano G, Nguyen KTQ, Hui D.
Additive manufacturing (3D printing): a review of materials,
methods, applications and challenges. Compos B Eng
2018;143:172e96.
[31] Tan C, Zou J, Li S, Jamshidi P, Abena A, Forsey A, et al.
Additive manufacturing of bio-inspired multi-scale
hierarchically strengthened lattice structures. Int J Mach
Tool Manufact 2021;167.
[32] Wegst UG, Bai H, Saiz E, Tomsia AP, Ritchie RO. Bioinspired
structural materials. Nat Mater 2015;14(1):23e36.
[33] Zhang Y, Xu X, Wang J, Chen T, Wang CH. Crushing analysis
for novel bio-inspired hierarchical circular structures
subjected to axial load. Int J Mech Sci 2018;140:407e31.
[34] Ha NS, Pham TM, Hao H, Lu G. Energy absorption
characteristics of bio-inspired hierarchical multi-cell square
tubes under axial crushing. Int J Mech Sci 2021;201.
[35] Chen Y, Ma Y, Yin Q, Pan F, Cui C, Zhang Z, et al. Advances in
mechanics of hierarchical composite materials. Compos Sci
Technol 2021;214.
[36] Lazarus BS, Velasco-Hogan A, Go  mez-del Rı́o T, Meyers MA,
Jasiuk I. A review of impact resistant biological and
bioinspired materials and structures. J Mater Res Technol
2020;9(6):15705e38.
[37] Qi C, Jiang F, Yang S. Advanced honeycomb designs for
improving mechanical properties: a review. Compos B Eng
2021;227.
[38] Liu Z, Meyers MA, Zhang Z, Ritchie RO. Functional gradients
and heterogeneities in biological materials: design
principles, functions, and bioinspired applications. Prog
Mater Sci 2017;88:467e98.
[39] Habibi MK, Lu Y. Crack propagation in bamboo's hierarchical
cellular structure. Sci Rep 2014;4:5598.
[40] Tsang HH, Tse KM, Chan KY, Lu G, Lau AKT. Energy
absorption of muscle-inspired hierarchical structure:
experimental investigation. Compos Struct 2019;226.
[41] Tsang HH, Raza S. Impact energy absorption of bio-inspired
tubular sections with structural hierarchy. Compos Struct
2018;195:199e210.
[42] Meyers MA, Lin AY, Chen PY, Muyco J. Mechanical strength
of abalone nacre: role of the soft organic layer. J Mech Behav
Biomed Mater 2008;1(1):76e85.
[43] Kong E, Liu D, Guo X, Yang W, Sun J, Li X, et al. Anatomical
and chemical characteristics associated with lodging
resistance in wheat. Crop J 2013;1(1):43e9.
[44] Li S, Liu Z, Shim VPW, Guo Y, Sun Z, Li X, et al. In-plane
compression of 3D-printed self-similar hierarchical
honeycombs e static and dynamic analysis. Thin-Walled
Struct 2020;157.
[45] Zhang Y, Wang J, Wang C, Zeng Y, Chen T. Crashworthiness
of bionic fractal hierarchical structures. Mater Des
2018;158:147e59.
[46] Fang J, Sun G, Qiu N, Pang T, Li S, Li Q. On hierarchical
honeycombs under out-of-plane crushing. Int J Solid Struct
2018;135:1e13.
[47] Zhang W, Yin S, Yu TX, Xu J. Crushing resistance and energy
absorption of pomelo peel inspired hierarchical honeycomb.
Int J Impact Eng 2019;125:163e72.
[48] Espinosa HD, Filleter T, Naraghi M. Multiscale experimental
mechanics of hierarchical carbon-based materials. Adv
Mater 2012;24(21):2805e23.
[49] Barthelat F, Tang H, Zavattieri P, Li C, Espinosa H. On the
mechanics of mother-of-pearl: a key feature in the
material hierarchical structure. J Mech Phys Solid
2007;55(2):306e37.
[50] Chen S-M, Gao H-L, Zhu Y-B, Yao H-B, Mao L-B, Song Q-Y,
et al. Biomimetic twisted plywood structural materials. Natl
Sci Rev 2018;5(5):703e14.
[51] Dong L. Mechanical response of Tie6Ale4V hierarchical
architected metamaterials. Acta Mater 2019;175:90e106.
[52] Sha Y, Jiani L, Haoyu C, Ritchie RO, Jun X. Design and
strengthening mechanisms in hierarchical architected
materials processed using additive manufacturing. Int J
Mech Sci 2018;149:150e63.
[53] Yin S, Chen H, Li J, Yu TX, Xu J. Effects of architecture level on
mechanical properties of hierarchical lattice materials. Int J
Mech Sci 2019;157e158:282e92.
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 2 ; 1 7 : 2 7 5 5 e2 7 7 1
[54] Liu X, Wada T, Suzuki A, Takata N, Kobashi M, Kato M.
Understanding and suppressing shear band formation in
strut-based lattice structures manufactured by laser powder
bed fusion. Mater Des 2021;199.
[55] ABAQUS. Analysis user's manual version 6.9; software for
finite element analysis and computer-aided engineering.
Providence, RI, USA: ABAQUS Inc; 2009.
[56] Lei H, Li C, Meng J, Zhou H, Liu Y, Zhang X, et al. Evaluation of
compressive properties of SLM-fabricated multi-layer lattice
2771
structures by experimental test and m-CT-based finite
element analysis. Mater Des 2019;169.
[57] Gibson LJ, Ashby MF. Cellular solids: structure & properties.
Oxford: Pergamon Press; 1988, ISBN 0-08-036607-4. 357 þ ix
pages, $35.00, Advances in Polymer Technology 9(2) (1989)
165-166.
[58] Li QM, Magkiriadis I, Harrigan JJ. Compressive strain at the
onset of densification of cellular solids. J Cell Plast
2016;42(5):371e92.