International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 174 (2020) 105472

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International Journal of Mechanical Sciences

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

Large amplitude vibration of sandwich plates with functionally graded

auxetic 3D lattice core
Chong Li, Hui-Shen Shen, Hai Wang∗, Zhefeng Yu
School of Aeronautics & Astronautics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: Full-scale modeling and nonlinear FEA are presented for large amplitude vibration of sandwich plates with func-
Auxetic metamaterial tionally graded (FG) auxetic 3D lattice core. For the first time, auxetic 3D lattice metamaterials with FG con-
3D lattice figurations along the out-of-plane direction are designed, of which the fundamental vibration frequencies are
Functionally graded
analyzed and verified by experiments using 3D printed specimens. Both results suggested that the effects of FG
3D printing
configurations and strut incline angles are significant, and the FG-X specimen possesses the highest fundamental
Sandwich plates
Large amplitude vibration frequency. Subsequently, by means of full-scale nonlinear FE simulations, the large amplitude vibration charac-
teristics are investigated for the sandwich plates, in which the novel construction of auxetic 3D lattice core with
three FG configurations along the thickness direction is proposed. And the constituent material properties are
taken to be temperature-dependent. Results revealed that FG configurations have distinct effect on the natural
frequencies, nonlinear-to-linear frequency ratios of sandwich plates, along with EPR-amplitude curves, which
will become stable when the vibration amplitude is sufficiently large.

1. Introduction method (FEM). Chen et al. [11] proposes a three-dimensional lattice

Metamaterials [1] are invented to possess macro-scale properties
that are not found in naturally occurring materials [2], and the prop-
erties are gained from their micro-structural design, rather than the
constituent materials. In recent years, auxetic [3] metamaterials have
attracted extensive attentions owing to their novel property of negative
Poisson’s ratio (NPR). In 1987, an auxetic foam material was manu-
factured by Lakes [4], who then indicated that auxetic effects could
be induced through micro-structural design, e.g. making cell shape
inverted [5]. Afterwards, a variety of such metamaterials have been
proposed, including re-entrant [6], chiral [7], and other new varieties
such as [8]. Nevertheless, most of them are actually two-dimensional
(2D) metamaterials.
Three-dimensional (3D) auxetic metamaterials are more suitable in
many applications, and the developments in additive manufacturing
techniques have enabled the fabrication of such metamaterials with
complex microstructures. Li et al. [9] used Selective Laser Melting
(SLM) method to build a Negative Poisson’s Ratio (NPR) TiNi-based
Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) structure. Xiong et al. [10] carried out a
quantitative optimization of a modified re-entrant negative Poisson’s
ratio (NPR) structure whose overhanging struts were replaced with
inclined ones to avoid the support structures which were generally re-
quired in the selective laser melting (SLM) process using finite element
metamaterial by extending the existing 2D enhanced auxetic model
to a 3D one. And theoretical and numerical analyses were carried out
to gain a deeper understanding of the elastic behavior of the new 3D
structure and its dependence on the geometric parameters.
The auxetic metamaterials have exhibited a great many of engi-
neering advantages, such as increased shear resistance [4], indentation
resistance [12,13], energy absorption [14–16], crashworthiness
[17,18]. Thus, they are potentially the ideal core of sandwich struc-
tures. A typical sandwich plate is composed of a lightweight core,
such as foams [19–21] and honeycombs [6,22–27] etc., to which
two relatively thin, dense, high-strength and high-stiffness facesheets
are adhered. Lots of research works have been carried out on the
bending and vibration behaviors of sandwich plates with 2D auxetic
metamaterial core [6,22–27]. However, only a few works have been
made on the sandwich plates with 3D auxetic lattice metamaterial
core. Novak et al. [28] fabricated the auxetic cellular structures using
the Selective Electron Beam Melting (SEBM) technique and showed
that using the designed auxetic cellular cores can improve the dynamic
response of sandwich structures. Imbalzano et al. [29] proposed sand-
wich panels with auxetic lattice cores confined between metallic facets
for localized impact resistance applications, and indicated that beam
elements, instead of massive solid elements, can be used to model lattice
cores.

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wanghai601@sjtu.edu.cn (H. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmecsci.2020.105472
Received 12 November 2019; Received in revised form 16 January 2020; Accepted 22 January 2020
Available online 23 January 2020
0020-7403/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
C. Li, H.-S. Shen and H. Wang et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 174 (2020) 105472

As a new generation of composite materials, functionally graded where Lu and Hu are respectively the overall in-plane and out-of-plane
material (FGM) [30] has microstructural details that vary in a spatially dimensions. Moreover, the incline angle 𝜃 is defined to be negative
pattern, and thus have outstanding designability [31]. There are many when it is clockwise. An obvious precondition of the micro-structural
kinds of FGM, such as CNTRC material [32,33] and GRC material design is that, the struts should not contact or even intersect with each
[34,35]. Functionally graded auxetic metamaterials, including 3D other, which requires:
lattices and 2D honeycombs, possess gradual variations of cell size, ( )
𝑎0 − 2𝑟 + 2𝑏0 sin 𝜃 > 0 ⇒ sin 𝜃 > − 𝑎0 − 2𝑟 ∕2𝑏0 . (2)
shape or thickness, and the gradient configuration can give rise to the
continuous distribution of mechanical properties [36], such as effective The main advantage of this 3D microstructure is that, all six effective
stiffness and Poisson’s ratio. Ma et al. [37] developed a functionally Poisson’s ratios (EPRs) are negative. While for re-entrant honeycombs
graded NPR metamaterial for blast protection, in which the microstruc- compressed along x3 -direction, only x1 -direstion will generate strain
𝑒𝑓 𝑓
tures are varying along the in-plane direction to place stiffer ones in like in the plain strain condition, because of the fact that 𝜈32 ≈ 0. As
the central region. Their results indicated that optimal distribution can a preliminary study on the EPR of auxetic 3D lattice metamaterials, we
further improve the protection. Jin et al. [38] numerically investigated firstly calculate the variations of Lu and Hu :
the dynamic responses and blast resistance of the honeycomb sandwich ⎧𝛿𝐿𝑢 = 2𝑏0 cos 𝜃
structures under blast loading, in which the 2D re-entrant honeycombs ⎪ −2𝑏20 cos 𝜃 sin 𝜃
⎨𝛿𝐻𝑢 = √ (3)
have varying cell wall thicknesses. By means of tests and full-scale finite ⎪
element simulations, Boldrin et al. [39] compared two gradient cellular ⎩ (𝑏0 cos 𝜃)2 − (𝑎0 ∕2)2
layouts of 2D re-entrant honeycombs: gradient internal cell angles and 𝑒𝑓 𝑓
Then the 𝜈31 is
cell wall aspect ratios. Furthermore, the nonlinear bending, thermal √
postbuckling, nonlinear vibration and dynamic response of sandwich 𝜀 𝛿𝐿𝑢 ∕𝐿𝑢 𝐻 (𝑏0 cos 𝜃)2 − (𝑎0 ∕2)2 𝐻𝑢 2 ∕2𝐿𝑢
𝑒𝑓 𝑓
beams with functionally graded negative Poisson’s ratio honeycomb 𝜈31 =− 1 =− = 𝑢 = (4)
𝜀3 𝛿𝐻𝑢 ∕𝐻𝑢 𝐿𝑢 𝑏0 sin 𝜃 𝑏0 sin 𝜃
core were investigated by Li et al. [40–43], in which the auxetic core
𝑒𝑓 𝑓 𝑒𝑓 𝑓
is still 2D re-entrant honeycombs. However, to the best of authors’ Apparently, the microstructure will have negative 𝜈31 (and 𝜈32 )
knowledge, no existing researches have been carried out on sandwich when 𝜃 < 0.
structures with auxetic 3D lattice core possessing functionally graded On the other hand, the 3D lattice metamaterial possesses lower rela-
configurations along the plate thickness direction, which can achieve tive density compared with the 2D re-entrant honeycombs. For the same
the FG distribution of effective properties of the auxetic core, and the volume of 6 × 6 × 4 (mm), t = 2r = 0.2 mm, l0 sin 𝛼 = b0 sin 𝜃 = 1 mm
section stiffness of sandwich plates will then be influenced. and a0 = 4 mm, in which the parameters t, l0 , h0 , 𝛼 of honeycombs are
In the present study, we first examine fundamental vibration illustrated in Fig. 1(a), the relative density of them are evaluated as:
frequencies of the designed auxetic 3D lattice metamaterials with func- for 2D re-entrant honeycombs,
( )
tionally graded configurations, by FE simulations and experiments. The 𝜌∗ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑏 𝑡 3ℎ0 + 4𝑙0
proposed FG auxetic 3D lattices would have a wide range of versatility = = 0.1745 (5a)
𝜌𝑐 𝐻𝑢 ⋅ 𝐿𝑢
in their application, including for anomalous elastic wave polarization
while for 3D lattice,
[44], as acoustic metamaterials for controllable band gaps [45,46] and ( )
as core of sandwich structures, which are increasingly used in aircrafts, 𝜌∗𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝜋𝑟2 8𝑎0 + 16𝑏0 + 2𝑐0 𝜌∗ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑦𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑏
= = 0.0192 ≈ 11% × . (5b)
spacecrafts, deep submergence vehicles and pressure vessels, etc. 𝜌𝑐 𝐻𝑢 ⋅ 𝐿𝑢2 𝜌𝑐
These structures, however, are often subjected to severe operational Therefore, the 3D lattice metamaterials do have remarkable
conditions [47], in which the transverse deflections are no longer small lightweight advantage.
compared to the plate thickness. Under these circumstances, geometric
nonlinearity must be included in the vibration analysis, and nonlinear 2.1. Functionally graded configurations
vibration frequencies will change as the increment of amplitudes.
This paper then focused on the large amplitude vibration behavior of Unlike the in-plane FG configurations in [38], the microstructures
sandwich plates with three functionally graded auxetic 3D lattice core, in present study are varying along the x3 -direction, i.e. out-of-plane
in which the strut incline angles of microstructures vary along the plate direction. Note that the strut radius r can be independent, and if the
thickness direction. The uniform distributed (UD) core is also taken into values of Lu , Hu and a0 are given, there will be only one independent
account for comparison. With thermal effects are further considered, parameter left. In the current study, the incline angle 𝜃 is chosen as the
full-scale modeling and nonlinear thermal-mechanical analysis are design parameter, while b0 and c0 will be determined accordingly.
performed, and the material properties of both auxetic 3D lattice core As a qualitative analysis, the effective stiffness of 3D lattice mi-
and facesheets are taken to be temperature-dependent. crostructures will decrease with the magnitude of incline angle 𝜃
enlarge, and would vanish when |𝜃| → 𝜋/2. Of course, this is impossible
because of the restriction of Eq. (2). Therefrom the structural section
2. Vibration behavior of the FG auxetic 3D lattice metamaterials bending stiffness will depend on the FG configurations, which will then
affect the vibration frequencies.
The microstructure of a 3D lattice metamaterial with negative Three types of functionally graded (FG) configurations are con-
Poisson’s ratio, expanded from the classical 2D re-entrant honeycombs, sidered, indicating that the strut incline angle of microstructures is
is illustrated in Fig. 1. Five parameters are needed to characterize the varying along the out-of-plane direction. For FG-V configuration, the
microstructure, and apparently we can use the horizon strut length strut incline angles are [(𝜃 1 )2 /(𝜃 2 )2 /(𝜃 3 )2 ], in which: 𝜃 i (i = 1,2,3) is
a0 , the incline strut length b0 , the connecting strut length c0 , the strut negative and |𝜃 1 |<|𝜃 2 |<|𝜃 3 |; the subscript match with the other half
incline angle 𝜃, and the strut radius r, as shown in Fig. 1(b), in which ‘2’ indicates two microstructures having the same inline angle. The
in-plane x1 - and x2 - directions of the right handed local coordinate FG-X and FG-O configurations possess incline angles of [𝜃 1 /𝜃 2 /𝜃 3 ]S
system are parallel to the horizon struts, while the out-of-plane x3 - and [𝜃 3 /𝜃 2 /𝜃 1 ]S , in which the subscript ‘S’ denotes symmetric about
direction is then determined accordingly. The overall dimensions of a the mid-plane of sandwich plates. Fig. 1(c) and (d) show the FE model
microstructure can be expressed as and 3D printed specimen with the FG-X configuration. In addition,
{ the auxetic 3D lattice metamaterial with uniform distributed (UD)
𝐿𝑢 = 𝑎0 + 𝑐0 + 2𝑏0 sin 𝜃
√ microstructures is also taken into account for comparison, of which all
( )2 , (1)
𝐻𝑢 = 2 (𝑏0 cos 𝜃)2 − 𝑎0 ∕2 the strut incline angles are equal to 𝜃 2 .
C. Li, H.-S. Shen and H. Wang et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 174 (2020) 105472

Fig. 1. The auxetic metamaterials:(a) 2D honeycomb

microstructure; (b) 3D lattice microstructure; (b) FE
predicted first-order vibration mode of the FG-X speci-
men; (d) 3D printed specimen with FG-X configuration.

2.2. Specimen design and manufacture Table 2

The fundamental natural frequencies of auxetic 3D lattice
In the current research, the specimens consist of 4 × 1 × 6 mi- metamaterials with different strut incline angles.
crostructures, and the detailed length dimensions are as follows: 𝜃 FEA prediction (Hz) Experiment (Hz)
Lu = 12 mm, Hu = 8 mm, a0 = 8 mm, r = 0.5 mm. For the UD
−15° 114.84 120.28
configuration, three values of the strut incline angles are considered −20° 88.980 91.186
and compared, namely, −15°, −20° and −25° For functionally graded −25° 70.944 71.381
auxetic 3D lattice metamaterials with FG-X and FG-O configurations,
the strut incline angles of six microstructures along the x3 - direction
Table 3
are listed in Table 1. Besides, two cover plates are fixed at the top and
The fundamental natural frequencies of auxetic 3D lattice
bottom to apply boundary conditions and excitations. metamaterials with different functionally graded config-
The specimens, as illustrated in Fig. 1(d), are manufactured using urations.
additive manufacture technology, and the Jet Fusion 4200 3D printing
solution is utilized in consideration of its high quality and low price. Configurations FEA prediction (Hz) Experiment (Hz)

The elastic modulus and mass density of the PA-12 material are taken UD 88.980 91.186
to be 1800 MPa and 1.01 g/cm3 , while the Poisson’s ratio is v = 0.37, FG-O 81.651 83.264
FG-X 92.320 94.702
as determined in our lab under the ASTM 638-14 standard test method.

2.3. Results and discussion

the dynamic signal acquisition & analysis system, and a computer to
As a prediction of experimental results, a set of finite element models display the analysis panel and conduct post-processing. Consistent with
are created and analyzed using the FEA software ABAQUS, and bound- the boundary conditions of FE models, the bottom surface of specimens
ary conditions are considered to be clamped at the bottom facesheet. is adhered to a heavy base plate, and are excited along x2 -direction on
Numerical results, solved by a linear perturbation analysis step, revealed the top facesheet, of which the displacements are then measured by the
that the fundamental vibration mode is bending, as shown in Fig. 1(c). laser transducer. Experimental results of fundamental frequencies are
On the other hand, the test system includes a laser displacement compared with FE predicted results in Tables 2 and 3, from which good
transducer (LK-H050) with its controller (LK-G5001) connected to agreements are observed, and the differences can be attributed to the
beam assumption for the struts of auxetic 3D lattice microstructures
Table 1 in the FE models. In 3D printed specimens, the struts with smaller
Configuration codes of the auxetic 3D lattice metamate- incline angles will have a small “grown-together” region around their
rials. connecting end, which will make the microstructure stiffer. Therefore,
the differences reduce with an increase in the incline angle.
Configuration Code
From Table 2, we can conclude that as the increase of magnitudes
FG-V [(−15)2 /(−20)2 /(−25) 2 ] of the incline angles, the fundamental frequency will decrease. As has
FG-O [−25/−20/−15]S been analysed in Section 2.1, the specimen consists of microstructures
FG-X [−15/−20/−25]S
UD [(−20)6 ]
with the incline angle of −15°, has higher bending stiffness than that
of [(−25°)6 ] specimen. On the other hand, the relative density will
C. Li, H.-S. Shen and H. Wang et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 174 (2020) 105472

reduce as the incline angle increase, due to the decrease of b0 and c0 Table 4
in Eq. (5b). In conclusion, the natural frequencies will increase as the Overall geometric parameters and meshes of sandwich plates with a = b = 25h
decrease in incline angle, because of the increment in specific stiffness. and different facesheet-to-core thicknesses ratios.
Furthermore, Table 3 suggested that the functionally graded con- Problem hf /hc N = b/Lu Elements Model-scale
figuration can obviously affect the vibration behavior, and the FG-X
Natural 1/100 102 749,088 SC8R+2,705,040 B31 Whole
specimen has higher natural frequency. As shown in Table 1, the FG-X frequency 1/50 104 778,752 SC8R+2,812,160 B31 Whole
configuration has microstructures with the incline angle of −15° in the 1/20 110 871,200 SC8R+3,146,000 B31 Whole
outer layer, which possess higher effective stiffness than those having Nonlinear 1/100 51 187,272 SC8R+676,260 B31 Quarter
incline angle of −25° and located around the midplane. Therefore, the vibration 1/50 52 194,688 SC8R+703,040 B31 Quarter
1/20 55 217,800 SC8R+786,500 B31 Quarter
effective stiffness of FG-X configuration is higher than that of UD and
FG-O configurations. Considering their equal mass, the FG-X specimen
has larger specific stiffness and thus higher natural frequencies.
The main concern is that, the effective mechanical properties of the
microstructures are quite sensitive to their shapes, which will change
3. Full-scale nonlinear FE simulation of sandwich plates significantly in the large amplitude region. In contrast, the determi-
nation of effective properties often bases on the assumptions of linear
Consider a sandwich plate with a total thickness of h = hc + 2hf , elastic and small deformation. Therefore, theoretical investigations
in which hc and hf are respectively the thickness of core layer and using effective homogenization models are inadequate for geometric
facesheet, and having width-to-thickness ratio b/h, length-to-width ra- nonlinear problems, and suitable for linear problems only.
tio a/b. Let (X, Y, Z) be the right-handed global coordinate system with The thickness of core layer is hc = 24 mm with Hu = 4 mm, and
its origin located at the center of mid-surface, and X- and Y-direction the facesheet-to-core thickness ratio is selected as hf /hc = 1/20, 1/50
are respectively along the length and width of sandwich plates, while and 1/100. The width to thickness ratio of sandwich plates is taken
Z-direction points to the bottom facesheet along thickness direction. to be b/h = 25, and length-to-width ratio is fixed as a/b = 1. The
As illustrated in Fig. 2, the auxetic 3D lattice core is arranged to have number of 3D lattice microstructures along the in-plane direction is
the same out-of-plane direction with the sandwich plates, and the then N = b/Lu , in which the overall length of a microstructure is taken
correspondence relationship between the local and global coordinate to be Lu = 6 mm. Moreover, the strut incline angles of microstructures
systems is x1 ⇔X; x2 ⇔Y; x3 ⇔Z. with different configurations has been presented in Table 1.
For the sake of brevity, the core and facesheets are assumed to
3.1. Full-scale finite element modeling be perfectly adhered and their meshes are carefully arranged so as to
share nodes along the interfaces. Each facesheet is meshed with one
In the instances of large amplitude vibration, the shape of the layer of continuum shell elements SC8R, while for the microstructures
sandwich plate and, hence, its stiffness change as it deforms at different of auxetic 3D lattice core, the Timoshenko beam elements B31 are
amplitudes. Therefore, the geometric nonlinearity is necessary to be adopted, which allow for transverse shear deformation. To achieve
taken into account to achieve reasonable simulations. a satisfactory compromise between accuracy and costs of time and
The large amplitude deformation of sandwich plates will bring memory, a convergence analysis was carried out, and finally the mesh
about local large deformation of the auxetic 3D lattice core. As a result, size for facesheets is 1 mm, while the a0 , b0 and c0 struts are meshed
the shape of microstructures, as shown in Fig. 2(b), along with their using one, two and four elements, respectively. Finally, detailed overall
effective properties will change accordingly. With regard to this, in geometric parameters and meshes of the sandwich plates with different
the large amplitude vibration problems, we will obtain and present parameters are summarized in Table 4.
not only the nonlinear-to-linear frequency (NLFR) ratios, but also the Three types of boundary conditions, i.e. CCCC, CSCS and SSSS, are
EPR-amplitude curves. considered, where “C” signifies the fully clamped boundary condition,
On the other hand, for the intension of more precisely obtaining “S” signifies the simply supported boundary condition with in-plane im-
the large amplitude vibration behaviors, 3D full scale finite element movable conditions, and “CSCS” indicates that “C” for X = ±a/2 and “S”
modeling is conducted, which indicates that all the structural details for Y = ±b/2. For “C”, all the degrees of freedom (DoFs) of the nodes
are modeled, instead of using the effective homogenization models. located at the plate edges are constrained, while for “S”, the boundary

Fig. 2. (a) Construction of full-scale FE model

and predefined displacement field for large am-
plitude vibrations; (b) local deformation of the
auxetic 3D lattice core; (c) Effective Region for
calculating effective Poisson’s ratios.
C. Li, H.-S. Shen and H. Wang et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 174 (2020) 105472

edges are constrained with only one rotation DoF is allowed. In large Table 5
amplitude vibration problems, we only consider the vibration mode (1, Temperature-dependent material properties of the auxetic 3D lattice core
1), which is symmetric about both X = 0 and Y = 0 planes, thus only a and face sheets.
quarter of sandwich plates need to be modelled, as shown in Fig. 2(a). In Temperature 300K 325K 350K
this case, symmetric constraint conditions are applied upon the symmet-
Ec (MPa) 105,698.2 104,293.0 102,887.9
ric planes. Finally, these three boundary conditions can be expressed as: 𝜈c 0.29 0.29 0.29
𝛼 c (/K) 6.94150E−06 6.69461E−06 6.41790E−06
𝐶 ∶ 𝑈 1 = 𝑈 2 = 𝑈 3 = 𝑈 𝑅1 = 𝑈 𝑅2 = 𝑈 𝑅3 = 0, (6a) 𝜌c (kg/m3 ) 4429 4429 4429
⎧𝑈 3 + 𝑈 3𝐿𝑊 𝑅 = 0
Ef (MPa) 68,749.5 67,835.2 66,921.0
⎪ 𝑈𝑃 𝑅 𝜈f 0.33 0.33 0.33
𝑆 ∶ ⎨𝑈 1𝑈 𝑃 𝑅 + 𝑈 1𝐿𝑊 𝑅 = 0(𝑓 𝑜𝑟𝑋 = ±𝑎∕2) , (6b) 𝛼 f (/◦ C) 2.31134E−05 2.35274E−05 2.39414E−05
⎪𝑈 2𝑈 𝑃 𝑅 + 𝑈 2𝐿𝑊 𝑅 = 0(𝑓 𝑜𝑟𝑌 = ±𝑏∕2) 𝜌f (kg/m3 ) 2707 2707 2707
⎩
{
𝑈 1 = 𝑈 𝑅2 = 𝑈 𝑅3 = 0(𝑓 𝑜𝑟𝑋 = 0)
𝑆𝑌 𝑀𝑀 ∶ , (6c)
𝑈 2 = 𝑈 𝑅1 = 𝑈 𝑅3 = 0(𝑓 𝑜𝑟𝑌 = 0)
sandwich plates, it is essential to ensure this temperature-dependency
in which, U1, U2 and U3 are translational DoFs along the X-, Y- and is taken into account. Considering the realistic materials used in aircraft
Z-directions; UR1, UR2 and UR3 are rotational DoFs about the X-, industry and possible 3D printing techniques for metal specimens
Y- and Z-directions; and the subscripts UPR and LWR refers to nodes (including SLM and EBM), the auxetic 3D lattice core and facesheets
symmetrically located on the upper and lower side of the mid-surface. are respectively made from Ti-6Al-4V and aluminum alloy, and the ex-
pressions for their mechanical properties are detailly described in [42].
3.2. Solution procedures and temperature-dependent material properties In the present FE simulations, three thermal environments are used,
i.e. T = 300, 325 and 350 K. The material properties for the constituent
The sandwich plates are further considered in different thermal materials of both auxetic 3D lattice core and facesheets under these
environments, and the difference between the applied and initial tem- thermal environments are summarized and listed in Table 5.
peratures will cause thermal strain on the condition that the thermal
expansion coefficient is given for the material. Accordingly, a sequen- 4. Numerical examples and discussion
tially coupled thermal-mechanical analysis is carried out. To begin
with, a predefined field is created, in which the initial temperature field The numerical results presented herein were obtained using the
is defined as T0 = 300 K. Sequentially, the temperature field is modified implicit solver ABAQUS/Standard, which solves nonlinear problems
as expected in a new analysis step, after which mechanical analysis is iteratively using the Newton’s method with the Nlgeom option is
then performed, as shown in the flowchart presented in Fig. 3. switched on, and the natural frequency problem is solved by a linear
For the nonlinear vibration problem, a large amplitude displacement perturbation analysis step.
field is firstly applied upon the sandwich plates, as shown in Fig. 2(a),
which will be then deactivated to allow free vibrations. The nonlinear
frequency 𝜔NL can be obtained by tracking the motion of the sandwich 4.1. Comparison studies
plate. Then the nonlinear-to-linear frequency ratio (NLFR) 𝜔NL /𝜔L is
determined accordingly, and the natural frequency 𝜔L is solved as an As introduced earlier, no existing researches have been carried
eigenvalue problem, which can be expressed as on the large amplitude vibration behaviors of sandwich plates with
[ ( ) ] auxetic 3D lattice core, three reduced problems are utilized to verify
2
− 𝜔L 𝑖𝑗 𝐌 + 𝐊 𝐯𝑖𝑗 = 𝟎, (7) present FEM, including one natural frequency and two large amplitude
vibration problems. The SC8R elements are employed to mesh the
where M and K are respectively the mass and stiffness matrix, (𝜔L )ij and
plates, and seed density is determined by convergency analysis.
vij are respectively the natural frequency and corresponding vibration
mode, in which the subscript ij refers to the mode shape of (i, j), and Example 1. Consider a square thick plate with clamped boundary con-
i, j is the half wave numbers in the X- and Y- direction. As mentioned ditions, which has a width-to-thickness ratio of b/h = 10. The material
earlier, only the mode (1, 1) is considered to calculate the NLFR, thus property is isotropic with a Poisson’s ratio of 𝜈 = 0.3. The comparison
by default the 𝜔L refers to (𝜔L )11 . results are listed in Table 6, in which
√ the natural frequencies are non-
Moreover, in different thermal environments, the mechanical dimensional and defined by Ω=𝜔𝑎 𝜌∕𝐸 . From the Table 6, it can be
properties of the constituent materials are expected to have significant concluded that present results using 10 SC8R elements in the thickness
change. For accurate predictions of the large amplitude vibration of the direction agree well with that of Lim et.al [48] using a higher-order
plate theory with 17 terms in the admissible shape functions.

Table 6
Comparison of natural frequencies for a square thick plate (𝜈 = 0.3, b/h = 10)
with clamped boundary conditions.

Sources C.W. Lim et.al [48] Present

0.98636 0.99754
XSYMM-YSYMM 3.1200 3.09999
3.1485 3.13351

1.8848 1.88972
XASYMM-YSYMM &
3.7269 3.73059
XSYMM-YASYMM
3.7765 3.77877

2.6457 2.63177
XASYMM-YASYMM 4.4395 4.45314
Fig. 3. Flowchart of linear and nonlinear vibration analysis process with con- 5.1393 5.03918
sideration of thermal effects.
C. Li, H.-S. Shen and H. Wang et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 174 (2020) 105472

Table 7
Comparison of the nonlinear frequency ratios (𝝎NL /𝝎L ) for a symmetric
[0/90/core/90/0] sandwich plate with b/h = 20 and hc /hf = 8.

Wmax SSSS CCCC

/h
Madhukar and Singha [50] Present Madhukar and Singha [50] Present

0.2 1.02657 1.01962 1.01822 1.01401

0.4 1.10352 1.08221 1.07059 1.05805
0.6 1.22408 1.18795 1.15064 1.12913
0.8 1.38006 1.33472 1.25143 1.22237
1.0 1.56534 1.51059 1.36799 1.32524

Table 8
The natural frequencies (Hz) of sandwich plates in different thermal envi-
ronments. (CCCC, r = 0.200 mm, hf /hc = 1/50).

Temperature Configuration (𝜔L )11 (𝜔L )12 = (𝜔L )21 (𝜔L )22

T = 300 K UD 157.81 251.79 323.33

FG-V 159.02 253.86 325.97
FG-O 156.89 250.14 321.24
FG-X 163.27 260.89 335.20
T = 325 K UD 127.12 238.32 296.62
FG-V 128.58 240.46 299.46
FG-O 126.06 236.60 294.31
FG-X 133.69 247.75 309.41
T = 350 K UD 84.658 223.47 265.17
FG-V 86.754 225.71 268.35
FG-O 83.230 221.63 262.47
FG-X 94.066 233.37 279.47

Fig. 4. Comparison of NLFR-amplitude curve for a square [0/90/core/90/0]
sandwich plate with simply supported BCs.
Example 2. Consider a square [0/90/core/90/0] sandwich plate with
simply supported boundary conditions, which has a width-to-thickness
ratio of b/h = 40 and core-to-facesheet thickness ratio of hc /hf = 10.
The material properties are: for facesheets, EL = 139,000 MPa,
ET = 9860 MPa, GLT = GTT = 5240 MPa, 𝜈 LT = 0.3 and 𝜌 = 1590 kg/m3 ;
for core, E = 90 MPa, G = 32 MPa, 𝜈 = 0.45 and 𝜌 = 170.6 kg/m3 . From
Fig. 4, in can be concluded that present results using 10 SC8R elements
in the thickness direction agree perfectly well with the finite element
results of Ganapathi et.al [49] based on the HSDT theory with 7 DoFs
per node.
Example 3. Consider a square [0/90/core/90/0] sandwich plate with
different boundary conditions, which has a width-to-thickness ratio of
b/h = 20 and core-to-facesheet thickness ratio of hc /hf = 8. The material
properties are the same as used in Example 2. The nonlinear-to-linear
frequency ratios (𝝎NL /𝝎L ) of the sandwich plate with SSSS and CCCC
boundary conditions are listed and compared in Table 7, from which it
can be concluded that present results agree well, but are slightly lower
than that of Madhukar and Singha [50] using normal deformation
theory.
expressed as
𝑒𝑓 𝑓 𝑈 1∕𝐿𝐸𝑅
𝜈31 =− (8)
(𝑈 3𝐵 − 𝑈 3𝑇 )∕𝐻𝐸𝑅
in which, LER and HER are respectively the overall length and height of
the effective region, and satisfy LER = Lu , HER = 6Hu . It is notably that
Eq. (8), directly modified from the primal definition of the Poisson’s ra-
tio, is applicable for both linear and large amplitude vibration problems.
4.2.1. The linear vibration frequencies
As a basis to determine the NLFRs, we firstly extract the first
four linear vibration frequencies of sandwich plates with different
geometrical parameters under thermal environmental conditions, and
results are summarized in Tables 8–10. From Table 8, we can conclude
that as the temperature rises, the natural frequencies will decrease. As
expected, the natural frequencies of CSCS plates lie between those of
the CCCC plates and SSSS plates, as shown in Table 9. It is notable that,
for the CSCS cases, the natural frequencies of mode (1, 2) and (2, 1)
are different, and the latter one is higher. As presented in Table 10, the
natural frequencies will increase significantly with the increment in
strut radii. Moreover, the sandwich plates in Tables 8–10 have facesheet
Table 9
The natural frequencies (Hz) of sandwich plates with different boundary
conditions. (T = 300 K, r = 0.200 mm, hf /hc = 1/20).

4.2. Parametric studies Boundary condition Configuration (𝝎L )11 (𝝎L )12 (𝝎L )21 (𝝎L )22

CCCC UD 135.50 216.16 216.16 276.39

In the following subsections, parametric studies are carried out FG-V 136.62 218.00 218.00 278.72
to demonstrate the effect of FG configurations, temperature rises, FG-O 134.60 214.61 214.61 274.45
boundary conditions, strut radii and facesheet-to-core thickness ratios FG-X 140.67 224.52 224.52 287.10
CSCS UD 128.67 207.45 213.25 269.34
(hf /hc ) on the nonlinear-to-linear frequency ratio (NLFR) and EPR
FG-V 129.82 209.65 215.17 271.98
variation of sandwich plates. The non-dimensional amplitude is defined FG-O 127.93 206.28 211.79 267.69
as Wmid /h, in which Wmid is the displacement along Z-direction of the FG-X 133.25 215.18 221.39 279.56
node located at the center of top surface. SSSS UD 121.60 204.23 204.23 262.45
Considering the symmetry condition, the effective region for calcu- FG-V 122.81 206.52 206.52 265.42
FG-O 121.05 203.16 203.16 261.11
lating EPRs is set to be 1 × 1 × 6 microstructures in the central region FG-X 125.53 211.70 211.70 272.17
of the sandwich plate, as shown in Fig. 2(a) and (c). The definition is
C. Li, H.-S. Shen and H. Wang et al. International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 174 (2020) 105472

Table 10 modulus along the out-of-plane direction of this section. Considering

The natural frequencies (Hz) of sandwich plates with different strut radii. their equal mass and based on Eq. (7), the fundamental frequency will
(T = 300 K, CCCC, hf /hc = 1/100). become higher as the increase of structural specific stiffness (K/M),
Strut radius Configuration (𝝎L )11 (𝝎L )12 = (𝝎L )21 (𝝎L )22 which can further explain the above four conclusions.
r = 0.150 mm UD 125.10 199.09 254.26
FG-V 126.31 201.14 256.81
4.2.2. The effects of FG configurations
FG-O 124.20 197.49 252.27 The effects of functionally graded (FG) configurations on the NLFR
FG-X 130.04 207.24 264.70 and EPR variation of sandwich plates are respectively demonstrated in
r = 0.175 mm UD 144.47 230.68 296.51 Fig. 5(a) and (b). Four different configurations, namely FG-V, FG-O,
FG-V 145.53 232.51 298.82
FG-X and UD, are considered, in which the UD configuration is taken as
FG-O 144.07 229.88 295.53
FG-X 148.77 237.91 305.94 the basis for comparison. The dimensions are: width-to-thickness ratio
r = 0.200 mm UD 159.84 256.83 332.30 b/h = 25, plate aspect ratio a/b = 1, strut radius r = 0.200 mm and
FG-V 160.67 258.32 334.19 facesheet-to-core thickness ratio hf /hc = 1/50. The sandwich plates are
FG-O 160.14 257.20 332.83 clamped at four edges and rested in the temperature filed of T = 300 K.
FG-X 163.04 262.41 339.68
It can be observed from Fig. 5(a) that, among the NLFR curves of four
configurations considered, the FG-X one is the lowest, which is contrary
to the natural frequency problem. In other words, as the increase of
structural specific stiffness, the nonlinear-to-linear frequency ratios will
become smaller.
As presented in Fig. 5(b), EPR-amplitude curves of two symmetric
configurations have the similar variation trend with the UD case,
while that of the FG-V plate is quite different. For FG-O, FG-X and
UD plates, the EPR curves possess significant changes when Wmid

Fig. 5. The effects of FG configurations on the nonlinear-to-linear frequency

ratio (NLFR) and EPR variation of sandwich plates with FG-NPR 3D lattice core:
(a) NLFR-amplitude curves; (b) EPR-amplitude curves.

thickness ratios of hf /hc = 1/50, 1/20, and 1/100. It is observed that

as the increase of thickness ratio, the natural frequencies will decrease.
Furthermore, among the four different configurations in all cases,
the FG-X plate has the highest fundamental natural frequencies. As has
been introduced in Section 2.3, the FG-X configuration possess stiffer
microstructures located in outer layer, while microstructures with
larger compliance are arranged to be around the mid-plane. Therefore, Fig. 6. The effects of temperature rise on the nonlinear-to-linear frequency ratio
the section bending stiffness of the FG-X configurations is larger than (NLFR) and EPR variation of sandwich plates with FG-NPR 3D lattice core: (a)
the others, which can be expressed as ∫ E(Z)Z2 dZ, and E(Z) is the elastic NLFR-amplitude curves; (b) EPR-amplitude curves.
C. Li, H.-S. Shen and H. Wang et al.
Fig. 7. The effects of boundary conditions on the nonlinear-to-linear frequency
ratio (NLFR) and EPR variation of sandwich plates with FG-NPR 3D lattice core:
(a) NLFR-amplitude curves; (b) EPR-amplitude curves.
/h < 0.5. Moreover, all the curves will gradually become stable in
the large amplitude region. The physical explanations are as follows.
Under in-plane immovable boundary conditions, when the structure is
subjected to a large amplitude deformation, its mid-plane will extend
to a curved surface, and the in-plane strain 𝜀1 is then positive. Because
𝑒𝑓 𝑓
of the negative Poisson’s ratio 𝜈31 , the resulting out-of-plane strain
𝜀3 will also be positive. The change of 𝜀3 is the outcome of 𝜀1 (as well
𝑒𝑓 𝑓
as negative 𝜈31 ), and then will delay. However, as the accumulate of
strains, in the large amplitude region their ratios become stable.
In the following analysis, only FG-X and UD plates are further
considered.
4.2.3. The effects of temperature rise
Fig. 6 presents the effects of thermal environments on the NLFR and
EPR variation of sandwich plates with strut radius of r = 0.200 mm,
facesheet-to-core thickness ratio of hf /hc = 1/50, and boundary
conditions of CCCC. As illustrated in Fig. 6(a), as the elevation of
environmental temperature, the NLFR-amplitude curves will become
higher, implying the increase of the nonlinear frequency ratios. The
physical explanation is that, the material softening in high temperature
environments will induce stiffness decrease, and obviously the specific
stiffness becomes smaller.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 174 (2020) 105472
Fig. 8. The effects of strut radii on the nonlinear-to-linear frequency ratio
(NLFR) and EPR variation of sandwich plates with FG-NPR 3D lattice core: (a)
NLFR-amplitude curves; (b) EPR-amplitude curves.
From Fig. 6(b), it is observed that when the thermal effects are
taken into consideration, the EPR-amplitude curves become distinctly
different from those of T = 300 K. This phenomenon is on account of the
fact that the initial displacements are caused by temperature changes.
Therefore, conclusions can be drawn that thermal environments
have significant effects on the large amplitude vibration behaviors of
sandwich plates.
Furthermore, the NLFR-amplitude curves of FG-X plates denoted by
hollow symbols are lower than that of UD plates with solid symbols.
On the other hand, the FG-X plates have higher ERP variation curves
than UD plates. Both results further demonstrate the distinct effect of
FG configurations.
4.2.4. The effects of boundary conditions
Fig. 7 illuminates the effects of boundary conditions on the NLFR
and EPR variation of sandwich plates with a large facesheet-to-core
thickness ratio of hf /hc = 1/20 and are rested at T = 300 K. As shown in
Fig. 7(a), the CCCC plate has the lowest NLFR-amplitude curve, while
that of SSSS plate is the highest, and the differences are owing to the
effects of boundary conditions on the structural stiffness. Fig. 7(b) re-
vealed that the EPR-amplitude curves of sandwich plates with different
boundary conditions all possess the similar variation trend, but limited
C. Li, H.-S. Shen and H. Wang et al.
Fig. 9. The effects of facesheet-to-core thickness ratio on the nonlinear-to-linear
frequency ratio (NLFR) and EPR variation of sandwich plates with FG-NPR 3D
lattice core: (a) NLFR-amplitude curves; (b) EPR-amplitude curves.
distinctions. It is concluded that boundary conditions can distinctly af-
fect the NLFRs, but only have small effects on the EPR-amplitude curves.
However, it is observed that in large amplitude region, all the EPR
curves of FG-X marked by hollow symbols, are higher than that of UD
by solid symbols. Besides, the NLFR curves of FG-X plates are lower
than that of UD cases.
4.2.5. The effects of strut radii
The effects of strut radii r on the NLFR and EPR variation of sandwich
plates with FG-NPR 3D lattice core are illustrated in Fig. 8. The sand-
wich plate has a small facesheet-to-core thickness ratio of hf /hc = 1/100
and are rested at the temperature filed of T = 300 K. The boundary
conditions are assumed to be CCCC. Results presented in Fig. 8(a)
indicated that, the NLFR-amplitude curves will become lower as the
strut radius increases, implying that the specific stiffness is becoming
larger. Moreover, the EPR-amplitude curves of the sandwich plate with
bigger strut radius is lower than that of the plate with thinner structs,
as shown in Fig. 8(b). Therefore, the strut radii will significantly affect
the NLFR-amplitude curves, and EPR variation of the effective region.
Moreover, the effect of FG configurations is also distinct: FG-X plates
possess smaller NLFRs while higher EPR-amplitude curves.
International Journal of Mechanical Sciences 174 (2020) 105472
4.2.6. The effects of facesheet-to-core thickness ratios
Finally, the effects of facesheet-to-core thickness ratios (hf /hc ) on
the NLFR and EPR variation of sandwich plates are summarized in
Fig. 9. The plates are fully clamped and are rested at T = 300 K. As
presented in Fig. 9(a), as the increase of facesheet-to-core thickness
ratio, the NLFR-amplitude curves are getting higher, indicating that
the specific stiffness is decreasing. Therefore, the effects of strut radii
and facesheet thickness are quite the opposite. From Fig. 9(b), it can
be concluded that the EPR-amplitude curves of sandwich plates with
different facesheet-to-core thickness ratios all share the same trend,
and the EPRs of plates with thinner facesheets are obviously smaller.
As a result, facesheet-to-core thickness ratios have significant effect on
both the NLFR-amplitude and EPR-amplitude curves.
Consistent with previous conclusions, the FG-X plates have lower
NLFR-amplitude curves, while higher EPR variation curves than that of
UD plates.
5. Concluding remarks
For the first time, the fundamental frequencies of auxetic 3D lattice
metamaterials with functionally graded configurations are investigated
numerically and experimentally. Moreover, the large amplitude vibra-
tion analysis of sandwich plates with FG-NPR 3D lattice core in different
thermal environments has been presented. Major conclusions include:
• The effects of FG configurations and strut incline angles on the fun-
damental frequencies of auxetic 3D lattice metamaterials are sig-
nificant, and the FG-X specimen possesses the highest fundamental
frequency.
• The FG configurations of the auxetic 3D lattice core have distinct
effect on the linear and nonlinear vibration behavior of sandwich
plates.
• As the increase of structural specific stiffness, the fundamental fre-
quency will increase while the NLFRs of sandwich plates will de-
crease.
• The EPR-amplitude curves of sandwich plates are obtained, which
will become stable when the vibration amplitude is sufficiently large.
It is expected that the present results could shed light on the vibra-
tion behavior of functionally graded auxetic 3D lattice metamaterials
and sandwich plates with such core, and would be conducive to further
investigations.
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.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Chong Li: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Software,
Validation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Visualization, Writing - orig-
inal draft, Writing - review & editing. Hui-Shen Shen: Conceptualiza-
tion, Writing - review & editing, Funding acquisition. Hai Wang: Re-
sources, Supervision. Zhefeng Yu: Investigation, Resources.
Acknowledgments
The support for this work, provided by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China under Grant no 51779138 is gratefully acknowl-
edged.
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