The effects of non-periodic microstructure on the elastic properties of two-dimensional cellular solids (Q1905608)

Finite element models of Voronoi honeycombs with uniform wall thickness are developed to investigate how one type of microstructural variability -- the non-periodic arrangement of cell walls -- affects the relation between microstructure and elastic properties in two-dimensional cellular materials. The results indicate that variability in the arrangement of cell walls introduces a modest amount of variance in the elastic constants of isotropic, Voronoi honeycombs. It is found that differences in the elastic constants in the two directions of nominally isotropic honeycombs are comparable to differences between different honeycombs. Measurements of relative density and microstructural anisotropy were made using stereology, and the results demonstrate that the elastic properties of nonperiodic honeycombs can be well predicted using the present estimates of microstructural properties combined with simple relations developed for periodic honeycombs. These findings support the use of the unit cell modelling approach for the analysis of honeycombs of low relative density with random variations in the arrangement of cell walls.