Exploiting Microstructural
Dennis M. Kochmann Instabilities in Solids and Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Z€urich, Structures: From Metamaterials Leonhardstr. 21, Z€urich 8092, Switzerland; to Structural Transitions Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Instabilities in solids and structures are ubiquitous across all length and time scales, and Pasadena, CA 91125 engineering design principles have commonly aimed at preventing instability. However, e-mail: [email protected] over the past two decades, engineering mechanics has undergone a paradigm shift, away from avoiding instability and toward taking advantage thereof. At the core of all Katia Bertoldi instabilities—both at the microstructural scale in materials and at the macroscopic, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and structural level—lies a nonconvex potential energy landscape which is responsible, e.g., Applied Sciences, for phase transitions and domain switching, localization, pattern formation, or structural Harvard University, buckling and snapping. Deliberately driving a system close to, into, and beyond the Cambridge, MA 02138; unstable regime has been exploited to create new materials systems with superior, inter- Kavli Institute, esting, or extreme physical properties. Here, we review the state-of-the-art in utilizing Harvard University, mechanical instabilities in solids and structures at the microstructural level in order to Cambridge, MA 02138 control macroscopic (meta)material performance. After a brief theoretical review, we e-mail: [email protected] discuss examples of utilizing material instabilities (from phase transitions and ferroelec- tric switching to extreme composites) as well as examples of exploiting structural insta- bilities in acoustic and mechanical metamaterials. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4037966]
1 Introduction properties [41,42]. Especially at the macroscopic level, structural instability and the associated large deformation of soft matter The long history of mechanics is rife with prominent examples have produced many multifunctional devices that exploit buck- of instabilities in solids and structures that have led to material ling, snapping, and creazing to result in beneficial acoustic or failure or structural collapse, spanning all scales from atomic- mechanical performance, see Ref. [43] for a recent survey. Like in scale void growth, failure, and stress-induced transformations to structures, instability at the material level stems from non-(quasi)- buckling and delamination in micro- and nano-electronics all the convex energy landscapes [44,45]; here, however, instability is way up to tectonic events. Examples of causal mechanisms for not tied to multiple stable or metastable structural deformation mechanical instability are ubiquitous: buckling of structures, modes but involves multiple stable microstructural configurations crushing of cellular solids, plastic necking, strain localization in such as those in phase transitions and phase transformations [46], shear or kink bands, wrinkling and crazing, void growth, fracture, domain switching and domain patterning [47–49], deformation and collapse. Through its more than 250-year-old history—going twinning [50,51], or strain localization, shear banding, and back to Euler’s buckling studies [1–3] and involving such promi- patterning in plasticity [52]. From a mathematical standpoint, nent mechanicians as Kirchhoff [4], Love [5], and the Lords non-(quasi)convex energetic potentials entail instability of a Kelvin [6] and Rayleigh [7]—the theory of material and structural homogeneous state of deformation, thus leading to energy- stability has resulted in analytical theories and numerical tools minimizing sequences which, physically, translate into complex that have provided engineers with safe design guidelines. Starting microstructural patterns, see, e.g., Refs. [49] and [52–56]. with structures and advancing to continuous media within the In addition to structures and materials, metamaterials— frameworks of linear and later nonlinear elasticity as well as somewhere in the diffuse interface between solids and inelasticity, the theory of stability in solids and structures has structures—have gained popularity in recent decades. These engi- evolved and resulted in many seminal contributions, see, e.g., neered media commonly have a structural architecture at smaller Refs. [8–19] for a nonexhaustive list of classics in the field. scales, which is hidden at the larger scale where only an effective Over the past two decades, an exciting paradigm shift has been medium with effective properties is observed. The advent of addi- initiated away from traditional design against instability and tive manufacturing has fueled the design of complex metamateri- toward novel performance through controlled instability: engi- als, see, e.g., Refs. [57–59], with instabilities now occurring neering mechanics is exploring the advantages of operating sys- across multiple scales. tems near, at, or beyond the critical point. (In)stability is Here, we present a survey of exploiting instabilities in solids instrumentalized for beneficial material or structural behavior and structures. Since the field has grown tremendously in recent such as, e.g., soft devices undergoing dramatic shape changes years, we limit our review to concepts that exploit microscale [20–22], propagating stable signals in lossy media [23] or control- instabilities to effect macroscale behavior, which applies to both ling microfluidics [24], large reversible deformation of cellular structures (e.g., trusses or architected metamaterials) and materials solids [25,26], morphing surfaces and structures [27,28], high- (e.g., composites and other heterogeneous solids). The effective, damping devices and energy-absorbing technologies from macroscopic properties of heterogeneous solids and metamaterials nanotubes to macrodevices [29–32], acoustic wave guides and are commonly identified by averaging over a representative vol- metamaterials [33–36], composites with extreme viscoelastic per- ume element (RVE), including asymptotic expansions [60,61], formance [37–40], or materials with actively controllable physical numerical tools based on periodic boundary conditions (BCs) [62–65], as well as various upper and lower bounds on effective Manuscript received May 4, 2017; final manuscript received September 13, 2017; properties, especially for linear properties such as the (visco)elastic published online October 17, 2017. Editor: Harry Dankowicz. moduli, see, e.g., Ref. [66]. Besides the quasi-static mechanical
Applied Mechanics Reviews Copyright VC 2017 by ASME SEPTEMBER 2017, Vol. 69 / 050801-1
Downloaded From: http://appliedmechanicsreviews.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 01/02/2018 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/terms-of-use properties such as stiffness, strength, and energy absorption, a which defines an equilibrium path. At a critical point, @f=@u major focus of architected metamaterials has been on wave becomes singular so that there exists either no solution or a non- motion. Here, the effective wave propagation characteristics of unique solution (point of bifurcation). Note that imperfections periodic, microstructured media can be obtained from the disper- generally lower the critical point (i.e., they reduce the critical load sion relations computed at the RVE level [67,68]. Unlike in con- c) and affect the postbifurcation behavior, which is of importance ventional continuous media, structural metamaterials such as both in structures (where, e.g., geometric or fabrication-induced multiscale truss lattices can be exploited to independently control imperfections may dominate the mechanical response) and in elastic moduli and dispersion relations [69]. We note that if the materials (where, e.g., thermal fluctuations lead to temperature- wavelength approaches the RVE size (in particular in acoustic dependent transformation and switching kinetics). metamaterials), classical homogenization approaches may lose their validity, which is why new theories have been proposed for 2.2 Stability of Continuous Bodies. The previously men- the effective property extraction in more general settings, e.g., see tioned notions of stability can be applied to discrete systems and Refs. [70–75], which is closed under homogenization and can be continuous solids alike. A continuous body X Rd is described linked to Bloch–Floquet analysis [76]. Alternatively, computa- by the deformation mapping u : X R ! Rd, so that the tional techniques have obtained the effective dynamic performance deformed and undeformed positions, x and X, respectively, are even in transient, nonlinear, or inelastic settings [77,78]. These linked via x ¼ uðX; tÞ. Such body is governed by linear momen- concepts have been applied to both materials and structures, result- tum balance ing in interesting, extreme, peculiar, or controllable effective (meta)material properties to be reviewed in the following. 2 D ui We first give a concise review of the fundamental concepts of PiJ;J þ q0bi ¼ q0 in X (5) Dt2 stability theory to the extent required for subsequent discussions, followed by a survey of first material and then metamaterial strat- where egies that take advantage of instability. Finally, we discuss the state-of-the-art and point out ongoing directions and topical @W opportunities. PiJ ¼ (6) @FiJ
2 Stability Theory are the components of the first Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensor, FiJ ¼ u ; denotes the deformation gradient, D/Dt is the material time 2.1 Notions of Stability. From a theoretical viewpoint, stabil- i J derivative, q0 is the mass density in the reference configuration, ity problems have traditionally been treated by either energetic and W is the strain energy density. Moreover, q0b is the body principles, linking stability to the uniqueness of solutions or min- force field, which is assumed to be known and independent of ima in the potential energy landscape [79–81] or alternatively by deformation. Here and in the following, we use index notation dynamic analysis, defining stability as bounded solutions over with Einstein’s summation convention and comma indices denot- time in the sense of Lyapunov [82,83]. Both definitions coincide ing partial derivatives. Note that the above applies directly to elas- for conservative systems under small perturbations [84] but may tic media and can also be extended to inelastic continua when deviate otherwise (e.g., in the presence of gyroscopic forces [85]) using a variational formulation, see, e.g., Refs. [52] and [87]. where only dynamic methods generally yield the correct stability Instabilities are often investigated in the framework of incre- conditions [86]. mental deformations u_ superimposed upon a given equilibrium For a dynamical system characterized by @u=@t ¼ fðu; t; cÞ 0 n state of finite deformation u . Let us consider a perturbation that with unknown variables u 2 R , time t 2 R, control parameter takes the body to a new equilibrium configuration where Eq. (5) is c 2 R, and generally nonlinear driving forces f : Rn R n still satisfied and leaves the body force density unchanged. The R ! R , a solution u0ðtÞ is stable if for any bounded perturba- incremental problem is governed by tion ev such that uðtÞ¼u0 þ ev D2u_ jjuðtÞ u ðtÞjj ! 0ase ! 0 (1) P_ ¼ q i in X (7) 0 iJ;J 0 Dt2
uniformly for all t > t0 after some initial time t0. A solution is where a dot denotes a small increment in the respective quantity asymptotically stable if caused by the perturbation. Assuming that all incremental quanti- ties are sufficiently small (i.e., infinitesimal), the constitutive kuðtÞ u0ðtÞk ! 0ast !1 (2) equation (6) can be linearized as for sufficiently small e > 0[82,83]. For elastic solids, perturba- P_ ¼ C0 F_ (8) tions oftentimes occur in the form of free vibrations about an equi- iJ iJkL kL librium solution u . In this case, one has a harmonic perturbation 0 with the mixed elasticity tensor given by vðtÞ¼v^ expðixtÞ (3) 2 0 @PiJ @ W CiJkL ¼ ¼ (9) with amplitude v^ and frequency x 2 R (or, more generally, @FkL F0 @FiJ @FkL F0 superpositions of harmonic solutions of the above form with dif- ferent eigenfrequencies). Stability requires ImðxÞ 0 to avoid where F0 ¼ Grad u0. Finally, we note that it is often convenient to exponential growth of vðtÞ with time. Note that for linear elastic- investigate instabilities by formulating the incremental boundary ity, we must have x 2 R for stable waves, so that instability value problem in an updated-Lagrangian formulation, where the implies x2 < 0. reference configuration changes with time and is identified with the The system is in a state of (static) equilibrium when current configuration. In this case, the linearized form of the gov- fðu; cÞ¼0, which may have one or more (or no) solutions. Upon erning equation in the current configuration can be expressed as perturbation, we have 2 d ui 0 rij;j ¼ q in u ðÞX (10) dt2 1 @f @f @u @f @f d du þ dc ¼ 0; ) ¼ (4) where u: u0ðXÞ R ! R represents the incremental displace- @u @c @c @u @c ment field in the spatial description, and q ¼ q0 det F denotes the
050801-2 / Vol. 69, SEPTEMBER 2017 Transactions of the ASME
Downloaded From: http://appliedmechanicsreviews.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 01/02/2018 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/terms-of-use current density. Employing push-forward transformations based (2D) conditions of plane strain, we have instead j ¼ k þ l). The on linear momentum, one obtains longitudinal and shear wave speeds in 3D are obtained from the eigenvalue problem (14) as, respectively, 0 0 1 0 0 0 sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi rij ¼ Cijkluk;l with Cijkl ¼ 0 CiJkLFjJFlL (11) rffiffiffiffiffi det F k þ 2l l clong: ¼ ; cshear ¼ (17) Note that in the special case of linear elastic media, the elastic q0 q0 moduli are independent of deformation, so that C0 ¼ const (and one often omits the superscript). so that strong ellipticity imposes the necessary conditions of sta- When considering the (in)stability of continuous solids, one bility (in 3D) as generally differentiates between pointwise stability (which refers 4 to material-level stability at smaller scales or localization) and l > 0 Ù k þ 2l > 0; () l > 0 Ù j þ l > 0 (18) structural stability (which depends on the specific macroscopic 3 boundary value problem and corresponds to bifurcation). In the context of (in)stability in structures, analogous concepts exist for These conditions are included in the Lam e modulus map in Fig. 1. short- and long-wavelength instabilities, see, e.g., Refs. [17], [88], Note that the 2D (plane-strain) stability conditions can be derived and [89]. analogously [94].
2.4 Global Stability. The conditions of structural stability or 2.3 Pointwise Stability. The conditions of material stability global stability, in contrast, are nonlocal and ensure stability of an or pointwise stability are local in nature and derive from the overall body in dependence of the boundary conditions. Satisfying (pointwise) governing differential equations of the medium. Con- those guarantees that an arbitrary infinitesimal perturbation of the sider, e.g., a solid which becomes locally unstable and localizes displacement field from an equilibrium state remains bounded for deformation through the formation of a discontinuity. This implies all time. The conditions of structural stability are derived from a jump in the velocity gradient field, specifically ½½u_ i;J ¼ aiNJ, either energetic considerations, enforcing uniqueness of solutions where N denotes the unit normal on the plane of discontinuity, [4,44,79,95] or from a dynamic approach that seeks to analyze the and a characterizes the jump. Equilibrium across the discontinuity eigenmodes of a free vibration with respect to stability in the _ implies that ½½PiJNJ ¼ 0. Insertion into the incremental balance sense of Lyapunov [82]. equation (8) gives the condition for localization Starting with a separable solution of the infinitesimal displace- ment field (with x R in general) 0 2 CiJkLaiNJNL ¼ 0 (12)
for some choice of a; N 6¼ 0. Stability requires that localization does not occur for all directions, so that pointwise/material stabil- ity is ensured by
0 CiJkLðXÞaiNJakNL > 0 8 a; N 6¼ 0 8 X 2 X (13)
which guarantees the strong ellipticity of the governing equations [90]. By van Hove’s theorem, this also ensures unique (and thus stable) solutions if the entire boundary @X is rigidly constrained [91]. Alternatively, pointwise stability conditions are obtained from a linear dynamic analysis. Linear momentum balance in a linear elastic medium is governed by Eq. (7) with Eq. (8), so that one may seek separable solutions of the incremental displacement field of traveling wave form. To this end, consider the motion of a plane wave propagating at some speed c in the direction character- ized by normal vector N, so that most generally u_ ¼ u^ f ðct N XÞ with some differentiable f : R ! R. The linearized form of linear momentum balance, Eq. (7), now becomes
0 2 00 ðCiJkLNJNL q0c dikÞu^k f ðct NJXJÞ¼0 (14)
Consequently, real-valued wave speeds require that the acoustic tensor
0 AikðNÞ¼CiJkLNJNL (15)
is positive definite for all directions N 6¼ 0 (see, e.g., Refs. [92] and [93]), which in turn confirms the necessary, pointwise stabil- ity condition that C0 must be strongly elliptic, cf., Ref. 13. For the special case of homogeneous, isotropic, linear elasticity, we have Fig. 1 Map of stable regions in the k–l plane of a homogene- C0 ¼ kd d þ lðd d þ d d Þ (16) ous, isotropic, linear elastic solid. Dark-gray regions are unsta- ijkl ij kl ik jl il jk ble by violation of ellipticity, whereas the requirement of positive definiteness further restricts the stable region by also where k and l are the Lam e moduli; let j ¼ k þð2=3Þl denote making the light-gray region unstable (the three key inequalities the bulk modulus in three-dimensional (3D) (for two-dimensional from Eqs. (18) and (23) are shown separately).
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Downloaded From: http://appliedmechanicsreviews.asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/ on 01/02/2018 Terms of Use: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/terms-of-use uðx; tÞ¼u^ðxÞexpðixtÞ (19) assumed, homogenization techniques extract macroscale proper- ties from representative unit cells at the microscale, see, e.g., linear momentum balance for a linear elastic body (or a general Refs. [64] and [65]. Here, (pointwise) stability at the macroscale body in the linearized setting), Eq. (10), becomes has been linked to structural stability at the microscale [13,62,97]. When including materials that violate elastic positive-definiteness ðC0 u^ Þ þ q x2u^ ¼ 0 (20) such as in solids undergoing structural transitions, extra care is iJkL k;L ;J 0 i required as common assumptions of continuum elasticity theory may no longer hold [98,99]. Multiplication by u^ , integration over X, and application of the i Here and in the following, we generally refer to larger and divergence theorem lead to the eigenvalue problem smaller scales as macro- and microscales, irrespective of the par- ð ð ticular length scales involved. The effective quasi-static macro- 2 0 x q0u^iu^idV ¼ u^i;JCiJkLu^k;LdV (21) scale properties are then defined as averages over an RVE, X X defining ð Since the integral on the left-hand side is non-negative by defini- 1 tion, real-valued wave speeds (i.e., x 2 R or x2 > 0), and there- h i ¼ ðÞ dV (26) jXj fore, the stability of an elastic body requires that X ð with jXj denoting the volume of RVE X. 0 u^i;JCiJkLu^k;LdV > 0 (22) For example, in linear elasticity, effective stress and strain ten- X sors hri and hei are linked by an effective modulus tensor C such that hr i¼C he i, see Ref. [66]. In case of linear visco- For a homogeneous linear elastic body with constant moduli, ij ijkl kl positive-definiteness of C0 is therefore a sufficient condition of elastic behavior, harmonic stress and strain fields rðx; tÞ¼ stability (which is weaker than the necessary condition of elliptic- r^ðxÞexpðixtÞ and eðx; tÞ¼^eðxÞexpðixtÞ, respectively, with gener- ally complex-valued amplitudes are linked through a complex- ity). When introducing the concept of negative stiffness in Sec. 3.1.1, we will refer to a body with nonpositive-definite elastic valued effective modulus tensor C such that hr^iji¼Cijklh^ekli, moduli as one having negative stiffness. see Refs. [100] and [101]. For particular loading scenarios, one For a homogeneous, isotropic, linear elastic body satisfying can characterize the effective material damping by the loss tan- Eq. (16), the conditions of positive-definiteness (in 3D) reduce gent tan d, defined by the phase lag d in the time domain. For to example, for uniaxial loading, we have eðtÞ¼^eðtÞexpðixtÞ and rðtÞ¼r^ expðiðxt dÞÞ. In case of nonlinear material behavior, 2 the effective response depends on deformation and, e.g., the effec- l > 0 Ù k þ l > 0; () l > 0 Ù j > 0 (23) 3 tive incremental modulus tensor is given by which are tighter than those of strong ellipticity in Eq. (18). This 0 @hPiJi C ¼ (27) is illustrated in the map of Fig. 1 by the shaded regions (positive iJkL @hFkLi hFi¼F definiteness imposing tighter restrictions on the moduli than ellip- 0 ticity). As shown, the isotropic moduli can also be expressed in Other effective properties can be defined analogously. terms of engineering measures such as Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio 3 Exploiting Instabilities in Solids and Structures 3k þ 2l k E ¼ l and ¼ (24) As pointed out earlier, both local and global instabilities may k þ l 2ðÞk þ l occur in solids and structures. In recent years, both of them have been exploited to produce interesting, peculiar, extreme, or benefi- respectively, which yields the classical bounds 1 <