Designer Lightweight 3-D Nanolattice Materials

Recent ISN work by the Portela research group has showcased the combined benefits of nano/microscale features and three-dimensional (3-D) architectures in materials to obtain extreme impact mitigation efficiency. The objective of ongoing work is to leverage these results by designing, fabricating, and testing novel three-dimensional architected materials with features at the nano- to microscale in order to identify optimal design principles for enhanced impact performance at different energetic regimes. These architected materials will be designed to maximize their dissipated impact energy per unit mass by harnessing shock compaction mechanisms and nanoscale size effects where possible. Using a combination of novel nanomechanical experimental techniques and simulations, researchers will seek to uncover guiding principles for the design of a new generation of ultra-lightweight impact-mitigating 3-D architected materials with deterministic design at the nano/microscale. The work addresses ISN’s mission to create novel shielding materials that decrease weight while simultaneously improving blast and ballistic protection. It also contributes to the examination through high-fidelity 3-D modeling of advanced structural materials, significantly expanding on current knowledge by venturing beyond the static into dynamic regimes, enabling ISN to play a key role in leading explorations in this novel parameter space for 3-D nano-architected materials.