Mechanical property profiles of microstructures via asymptotic homogenization

Abstract Microstructure is the microscopic scale of a material, which can strongly influence physical properties, such as elasticity, strength, hardness, etc. Recently, many research efforts have been made to design the topology of microstructures carefully and govern their material properties according to the specific application of these materials in industrial practice. However, most works target specific properties that are tailored to particular applications. An integral image for one microstructure concerning multiple mechanical properties is in high demand. In this paper, we present a microstructure analyzer based on asymptotic homogenization. A mechanical property profile (MPP) is proposed to depict commonly used mechanical properties, including Young’s modulus, shear modulus, Poisson’s ratio, compressive strength, shear strength, the spatial distribution of effective Young’s modulus surface, and the worst-case von Mises stress distribution. Specifically, we utilize a radar chart to visualize the five scalar properties to help with an intuitive understanding of the microstructure. Moreover, we apply joints reinforcement on truss-based microstructures to enhance their strength. The results show that our analyzer and MPPs have the potential to help users understand and select the desired microstructure from alternatives and help them improve specific microstructure properties in microstructural design.