Fabrication and extreme micromechanics of additive metal microarchitectures

Abstract: The mechanical performance of metallic metamaterials with 3-dimensional solid frames is typically a combination of the geometrical effect ("architecture") and the characteristic size effects of the base material ("microstructure"). In this study, for the first time, the temperature- and rate-dependent mechanical response of copper microlattices has been investigated. The microlattices were fabricated via a localized electrodeposition in liquid (LEL) process which enables high-precision additive manufacturing of metal at the micro-scale. The metal microlattices possess a unique microstructure with micron sized grains that are rich with randomly oriented growth twins and near-ideal nodal connectivity. Importantly, copper microlattices exhibited unique temperature (-150 and 25 degree C) and strain rate (0.001~100 s-1) dependent deformation behavior during in situ micromechanical testing. Systematic compression tests of fully dense copper micropillars, equivalent in diameter and length to the struts of the microlattice at comparable extreme loading conditions, allow us to investigate the intrinsic deformation mechanism of copper. Combined with the post-mortem microstructural analysis, substantial shifts in deformation mechanisms depending on the temperature and strain rate were revealed. On the one hand, at room temperature (25 degree C), dislocation slip based plastic deformation occurs and leads to a localized deformation of the micropillars. On the other hand, at cryogenic temperature (-150 degree C), mechanical twinning occurs and leads to relatively homogeneous deformation of the micropillars. Based on the intrinsic deformation mechanisms of copper, the temperature and strain rate dependent deformation behavior of microlattices could be explained.