AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition
    IPF on Mesoscale Science and Technology of Materials and Metamaterials Monday Sessions
       Session IPF+MS-MoM

Invited Paper IPF+MS-MoM3
Ultralight Microlattices: Defining the Limits of Lightweight Materials

Monday, October 19, 2015, 9:00 am, Room 210F

Session: Materials for Energy Generation and Storage (8:20-10:20) & Mesoscale Phenomena in the Biosciences I (10:40-12:00)
Presenter: William Carter, HRL Laboratories, LLC
Correspondent: Click to Email
Design of “materials architecture” is emerging as a new and complimentary approach to classical materials selection in engineering design. By adjusting the geometric arrangement of solid phases and voids within a material, it is possible to extend the achievable property space for lightweight materials and functional coatings. Optimal microlattice materials that can be formed in a wide range of architectures and base materials, with properties spanning from unprecedented low density and surprisingly high mechanical recovery to structural alternatives to honeycomb and foams. The starting polymer microlattice templates are created using an array of interpenetrating self-forming photopolymer waveguides from a single exposure mask. Free-standing hollow micro-lattice materials can be formed based on a wide range of high performance thin films (metals, ceramics and polymers) by coating a micro-lattice template followed by subsequent removal of the template. The process enables precise and independent control over micro-lattice architecture at all levels of structural hierarchy (~100nm up to ~10cm). This technique is also inherently scalable to low-cost high-throughput manufacturing (~10-60 second exposure), highly scalable to large sizes (m2), enabling practical design and fabrication of a wide range of lattice materials including metals, polymers and ceramics.