Efficient energy-dissipative bioinspired architectured composite materials with high mechanical properties

Additive manufacturing of stiff and strong architectured composite materials enables to replicate the intricate architectures found in biological systems while providing excellent mechanical performance, paving the way for efficient energy dissipative systems. By abstracting different Bouligand architectures found in various marine creatures, the innovative concept of pseudo-orthogonal Bouligand architectured laminates (POB) is introduced to address the requirements of energy dissipation. POB are also coupled with the introduction of functional voids, which geometry and content are inspired by the pore canals present in the exocuticle and endocuticle of the lobster shell. The different architectured laminates are 3D-printed with PolyAmide 12 (PA12) reinforced by continuous basalt fibre. Novel POBs concepts are tested under non-perforating low-velocity impact at 9.4 m.s −1 and an impact energy of 50 J, along with more conventional stacking sequences to allow for comparison. All the tested samples dissipate at least 73 % of the impact energy, with porous POBs demonstrating the highest efficiency, ranging from 90 % to 95 %. This represents an improvement of up to 10 % compared to their denser counterparts, while also being 30 % lighter. The resulting performance in terms of energy dissipation capacity is then attributed to the underlying damage mechanisms imparted by the architecture, highlighting the desirable behaviour of porous structures.