Bioinspired grid design offers new opportunities for construction and security

Inspired by the Humble Deep-Sea sponge, the engineers from the RMIT-University have developed a new material with remarkable compressive strength and stiffness that could improve architecture and product designs.

The double grid design was inspired by the complicated skeleton of a sponge from deep sea known as Venus' flower basket, who lives in the Pacific Ocean.

Dr. Jiaming MA, the leading author of the latest RMM study in the structure, said that extensive tests and optimization have mixed the impressive combination of stiffness and strength of the pattern with the ability to compress.

It is this last aspect – known as auxiliary behavior – that opens up a whole range of possibilities to apply the design to structure engineering and other applications.

“While most materials become thinner or thinner at the laces like rubber, the auxetics do the opposite,” said Ma. “Auxetics can effectively absorb and distribute the effective energy, which makes it extremely useful.”

Natural auxetic materials include tendons and cat skins, while synthetic are used to produce the heart and vascular stent that expand and contract as needed.

While auxetic materials have useful properties, their low stiffness and limited energy absorption capacity limit their applications. The team -inspired double grid design of the team is important because it overcomes these main disadvantages.

“Every grille has a traditional deformation behavior, but if you combine it like nature in the deep -sea sponge, it regulates itself and holds its shape and exceeds similar materials with a significant edge,” said Ma.

Results published in Composite structures Show that the grille with the same material use is 13 times stiffer than existing auxetic materials based on re-retiring WabeDesign.

It can also absorb 10% more energy and at the same time maintain its auxetics behavior with a 60% larger stretching area compared to existing constructions.

Dr. NGOC San Ha said that the unique combination of these properties has opened several exciting applications for their new material.

“This bio -intended auxetic grille offers the so far solid basis for us to develop a sustainable building of the next generation,” he said.

“Our auxetic meta materials with high stiffness and energy absorption can offer significant advantages in several sectors, from building materials to protective equipment and sports equipment or medical applications.”

The bio -intended grid structure could, for example, function as a steel building frame so that less steel and concrete can be used to achieve similar results as a conventional frame.

The structure could also form the basis for light sports protection devices, bulletproof vests or medical implants.

Honorary professor Mike Xie said the project emphasized the value of nature. “Biomimikry not only creates beautiful and elegant designs like this, but also creates intelligent designs that were optimized by millions of years of evolution from which we can learn,” said Xie.

Next Steps

The team in the RMIT Center for Innovative Structures and Materials tested the design using computer simulations and laboratory tests on a 3D -printed sample made of thermoplastic polyurethane.

They now plan to produce steel versions of the design together with concrete and ramming structures – a design technology with compacted natural raw materials.

“While this design could have promising applications in sports equipment, PSA and medical applications, our main focus is on the building aspect and on the construction sector,” said Ma.

“We develop a more sustainable building material by using the unique combination of our design from outstanding auxetics, stiffness and energy absorption to reduce the use of steel and cement under construction.

“His auxetic and energy -absorbing features could also help dampen the vibrations for earthquakes.”

The team also plans to integrate this design with algorithms for machine learning for further optimization and create programmable materials.