Cellular solids: structure, properties and applications

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

3.032 Mechanical Behavior of Materials

In this subject, we review the structure and mechanical behavior of honeycombs and foams and apply models for their behavior to applications in engineering and medicine and to natural materials. Cellular solids are widespread in nature and in engineering. Natural cellular solids include wood, cork, plant leaves and stems, trabecular bone and the extracellular matrix to which biological cells attach in the body. Engineering honeycombs and foams can be made from polymers, metals, ceramics, glasses and composites. Their unique properties are exploited in applications such as lightweight structural panels, energy absorption devices and thermal insulation. In medicine, their behavior is of interest in understanding increased fracture risk due to trabecular bone loss in patients with osteoporosis, in the development of metal foam coatings for orthopedic implants and in designing porous scaffolds for tissue engineering that mimic the extracellular matrix.

Gibson, L. J., and M. F. Ashby. Cellular Solids: Structure and Properties. 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN: 9780521495608. [Preview with Google Books]

Gibson, L. J., M. F. Ashby, and B. A. Harley. Cellular Materials in Nature and Medicine. Cambridge University Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780521195447. [Preview with Google Books]

You may discuss problem sets with other students but the work you submit must be your own. For more information, see the MIT website on academic integrity, which has the Handbook on Academic Integrity.

Introduction

Structure

Processing

Mechanics of honeycombs

Mechanics and thermal properties of foams

Trabecular bone and osteoporosis

Tissue engineering scaffolds

Applications: Energy absorption devices

Applications: Structural sandwich panels

Mechanically efficient cellular structures in plants

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