Characterizing 3D-printed disordered metamaterials under static and oscillatory driving

The development of additive manufacturing has made it possible to print open-lattice metamaterials with controlled amounts of disorder. Using two protocols (Lloyd's algorithm and uniformly randomized lattices), we generate two-dimensional and three-dimensional network configurations and print them from polymeric or metallic feedstock. We characterize the samples under quasistatic cyclic compression and piezoelectric (acoustic) driving, which we measure with a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer. We find that the amount of disorder, keeping other properties fixed, is a strong control on the nonlinearity of the elastic response, the compressional modulus of materials, and the observed vibrational modes.