Liquid metal lattice materials with simultaneously high strength and reusable energy absorption

It is imperative to develop lattice materials with reusable energy absorption for sustainable, economic, and environmental considerations. Unfortunately, existing reusable lattice materials do not usually have both high strength and high energy absorption capacity simultaneously. To overcome this challenge, we developed four types of liquid metal lattice materials and explored their mechanical and recovery behaviors in this work. These beam and shell lattice materials have a liquid metal lattice core coated with two polymer coatings. It is found that the new hybrid coating is stronger and more durable compared to silicone coating alone. The Kelvin beam lattice and Primitive shell lattice are among the best candidates as reusable liquid metal lattice materials. By comparing various reusable lattice materials in the literature, it is found that the liquid metal lattice materials have the highest strength and energy absorption capacity due to the intrinsic metallic features.

Automated summary

This study developed four types of liquid metal lattice materials and improved their strength and durability by coating two layers of polymer on the metal lattice core. The beam and shell lattice materials exhibited higher strength and energy absorption capacity, making them the preferred choice for reusable liquid metal lattice materials.