Understanding mechanical behavior of metallic foam with hollow struts using the hollow pentagonal dodecahedron model

Abstract Nickel (Ni) foam with hollow struts, as one type of ultralight stochastic cellular material, can be simply manufactured by electroplating on a thermally or chemically removable template. A fundamental understanding is required to create a consistent lattice model with capability to capture its mechanical behavior. Herein, an unprecedented hollow pentagonal dodecahedron (HPD) model is proposed with a novel 3D packing architecture. HPD model reveals the scaling of Young's modulus (E) to relative density (ρ′) in the factor of 2, which agrees well with uniaxial compression tests. This simplified model paves a way to investigate the cellular material with hollow struts.