Thin–Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

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Thin-Walled Structures
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In-plane dynamics crushing of a combined auxetic honeycomb with

negative Poisson’s ratio and enhanced energy absorption
Huan Lu, Xiaopeng Wang *, Tianning Chen
School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: In order to improve the energy absorption capacity of the honeycomb, a combined auxetic honeycomb is
Auxetic honeycomb designed in this paper. By using the double-inclined walls replacing the horizontal walls of the star-shaped
Plateau stress honeycomb (SSH), and introducing a thin-walled circle contacting with the four concave corners of the SSH,
Deformation modes
the star-circle honeycomb (SCH) is designed. The in-plane dynamic crushing behaviors was explored based on
Negative Poisson’s ratio
Energy absorption
finite element method (FEM). There are three types of deformation modes observed with different impact ve­
locity, including low-, medium- and high-velocity loading modes and the stress-strain curve exhibits two plateau
stress stages. Based on the deformation characteristics of the representative unit, theoretical calculation models
were established to estimate the plateau stress of the SCH under low- and high-velocity loading according the
conservation of energy and the theoretical calculation was in keep well with the numerical simulation. A
deformation modes map was summarized to investigate the effects of the impact velocity and the relative density
on the deformation modes and the energy absorption capability and the dynamic Poisson’s ratio were studied.
The result shows that the SCH presents better energy absorption compared with SSH as well as retaining the
negative Poisson’s ratio property. The deformation mechanism was revealed form the structural design and
plastic hinge dissipation. This work presents a different design strategy for the auxetic honeycomb, expected to
guide the design of more novel auxetic with better energy absorption and mechanical property.

1. Introduction the term “auxetic” to describe what exhibit negative Poisson’s ratio.
As we all know, the auxetic honeycombs are developed on the basis
Honeycombs have been widely used in many fields like aerospace, of the general honeycombs like hexagon [14], square [15], triangle [16],
packaging engineering, automobile and human body protection and so etc. It has special properties, such as NPR, while still maintaining the
on [1] due to its outstanding performance including porousness, light characteristics of the honeycomb. Hence, its overall performance is not
weight, and high specific energy absorption [2]. The auxetic honey­ only related to the matrix material, but also closely related to the
comb, as a kind of honeycomb, possesses negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR) micro-topological structure. Until now, many scholars have also con­
which are not available for traditional honeycomb, making it have many ducted analysis and research on common honeycombs with different
excellent mechanical properties, such as increased indentation resis­ topologies and obtained a series of research results. For some instances,
tance [3,4] enhanced shear modulus [5,6], higher fracture toughness Ma et al. [17] systematically discussed the relationship between the
[7], good impact resistance [8]and better specific energy absorption micro-topological shape of the reentrant square honeycomb and the
[9–11]. When subjected to impact compression loading, auxetic hon­ corresponding structure based on the finite element simulation method.
eycombs can make more materials move to gather near the point of the Simultaneously, Liu & Zhang [18] studied the effects of
force to absorb much impact energy, which contributes to the applica­ micro-topological structure and arrangement on the deformation via
tion in the field of impact protection, attracting lots of research efforts. numerical simulation methods. Additionally, Kucewicz et al. [19]
The research on the NPR materials can be traced back decades, which investigated the quasi-static and dynamic performance of two 3D prin­
were first mentioned by Love [12] in his book, in 1944. Then, Lakes [7] ted honeycombs with different topologies. The results showed that the
successfully prepared artificial foam with a negative Poisson’s ratio for spiral topology honeycomb has better mechanical performance and
the first time in an experiment. Subsequently, K.E. Evans [13] originated energy absorption than the hexagon honeycomb. Li et al. [20] proposed

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: xpwang@[Link] (X. Wang).

[Link]
Received 5 September 2020; Received in revised form 5 November 2020; Accepted 2 December 2020
Available online 11 December 2020
0263-8231/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

two types of hierarchical honeycomb structures. It is found that the hi­ They confirmed that it can absorb more energy and exhibits two plateau
erarchical honeycomb can absorb more energy and possessed more stage and enhanced crushing strength compared with the star-shaped
stable performance which make it great application potential in the honeycomb and reentrant honeycomb. Inspired by previous research,
fields of energy absorption and impact resistance. Qi et al. [39] built a new type of a reentrant auxetic honeycomb (REC)
Similarly, the topological structures also have a great influence on by replacing the oblique wall with a double arc, and analyzed the
mechanical properties and energy absorption capacity for auxetic hon­ quasi-static plateau stress and compression characteristic of the honey­
eycomb. Therefore, it is significant to design the topological structures comb. The research results showed that the REC possessed more plastic
reasonably. With regard to this, more and more honeycombs have been hinges to dissipate more energy which extremely enhanced the specific
devised with various topological structures during the past decades, energy absorption. Wei et al. [40] combined triangle structure and
such as re-entrant structures [21–23], star-shape structures [24], double traditional star honeycomb to propose a star-triangular honeycomb
arrow structures [25], chiral structures [26]and rotating polygonal (STH), and investigated dynamic crushing behaviors and energy ab­
structures [26] and so on, which have superior mechanical properties sorption under different crushing velocity by means of theory and
and energy absorption capacity compared with conventional honey­ simulation. They concluded that the STH possessed higher in-plane
comb. For an instance, T. Wang et al. [27] analyzed the influence of the stiffness and crushing stress, and displayed better energy absorption
geometric parameters on the elastic properties of the re-entrant hexag­ than the star honeycomb. Likewise, considering the good performance of
onal cells based on a strain-based expansion homogenization method. auxetic honeycomb, Wang et al. [41] combined the star-shaped hon­
Hu and Deng [28] studied the effects of the wall angle on the eycomb (SSH) and the double-arrow honeycomb (DAH) to obtain a new
compressive capacity of the reentrant structure. Liu et al. [29] investi­ type of honeycomb, named as star-arrowhead honeycomb (SAH). The
gated the in-plane dynamic crushing behavior and deformation modes in-plane static properties and dynamic compression performance was
of re-entrant structures under impact load, pointing out that re-entrant discussed, showing that the SAH has greater in-plane compression per­
honeycombs can absorb more energy than common hexagonal honey­ formance and impact resistance than the SSH and DAH. Moreover,
combs. In order to improve the energy absorption and mechanical per­ Zhang et al. [42] constructed a quadri-arc with a combination of circular
formance, Li et al. [30] constructed two new reentrant topological honeycombs, and they studied the in-plane dynamic crushing behaviors
structures by introducing sine ribs and they found that the new struc­ and energy absorption under varied impact velocity, and compared
tures possessed a significant negative Poisson’s ratio and exhibited them with the circle honeycomb structure. As a result, the quadri-arc
higher specific energy absorption and enhanced mechanical properties. honeycomb possessed higher plateau stress and better energy absorp­
After that, Li et al. [31] studied the mechanical properties of a novel 3D tion efficiency, which promoted to improve the crashworthiness and
re-entrant cellular structures with possessed negative Poisson’s ratio and energy absorption capacity of the honeycomb. Xu et al. [43] proposed an
tunable stiffness, which may be guide the designing of the auxetic AuxHex honeycomb combining a conventional hexagonal honeycomb
structures with adjustable mechanical parameters in follow-up research. with a reentrant honeycomb. The deformation characteristics and fail­
Replacing the solid strut of the octet-truss structure with a tubular ure modes were studied. It indicated that AuxHex represented increased
re-entrant structure, Lv et al. [32] proposed a hierarchical octet-truss Young’s modulus, crushing strength and energy absorption capacity.
lattice material, concluding that the stiffness, strength and specific en­ Guo et al. [44] proposed a novel 3D AuxHex structure based on the 2D
ergy absorption increased with the increase of the wall thickness of the AuxHex structure, and analyzed the mechanical properties and energy
re-entrant structure. Furthermore, Wang et al. [33] used the re-entrant absorption characteristics through theoretical analysis, numerical
auxetic core to design a novel crash-box and optimized the energy ab­ simulation, and experimental methods. The results showed that the new
sorption and crashworthiness of the crash-box. structure of Poisson The ratio is 0, which has better energy absorption
As for the chiral structures, lots of scholars also conducted a series of capacity than traditional reentrant auxetic cells.
studies. For example, Zhu et al. [34] introduced a certain curvature into Although there have achieved so many results about the auxetic
the ligaments of the chiral structure to design a hexa-chiral auxetic honeycomb, further research is needed to contribute to improving the
honeycomb with wavy ligaments which exhibited excellent auxetic energy absorption. Thence, we propose a novel combined auxetic hon­
characteristics higher energy absorption. Subsequently, based on the eycomb SCH in this work. Firstly, the deformation modes of the SCH are
hexachiral honeycomb with wavy ligaments, Zhu et al. [35] added a studied through FEM under different crushing velocity (1 m/s, 30 m/s,
hexa-chiral reinforced structure into the node circle to form a hierar­ 100 m/s) compared with the SSH. And then, theoretical analysis models
chical hexachiral auxetics structure, which displayed enhanced stiffness are built to derive the analytical formulas of the plateau stress under
and hardness, further increasing the energy absorption capacity. Apart quasi-static and high-velocity loading, verified through numerical sim­
from the above, Qiao and Chen [36] analyzed the mechanical properties ulations. Subsequently, we analyze and study the deformation charac­
and energy absorption of double-arrow honeycomb (DAH), revealing teristics of the SCH to reveal the mechanism of deformation and energy
the deformation mechanism of the honeycomb under different velocity absorption. Furthermore, the effects of relative density and impact ve­
as well as developing a functional gradient DAH to improving the energy locity on the dynamic crushing stress and the deformation modes are
absorption capacity. Furthermore, Yang et al. [37] proposed a new investigated and a deformation map is drawn so as to discuss the
three-dimensional double U-shaped structure based on the 2D interaction of them compared with the other auxetic honeycombs.
double-arrow structure, introducing a smooth curve contact to replace Lastly, the energy absorption is also investigated and the relationship
the corner contact, which extremely reduced the stress concentration at between the dynamic Poisson’s ratio and the loading velocity is explored
the junction and structural defects. They found that the double U to discuss the variation law of Poisson’s ratio with velocity.
structure represented greater advantages in mechanical properties and
impact resistance and would be expected to be applied to engineering 2. Geometry and finite element models
practice.
Recently, the research on the single auxetic structure has achieved 2.1. Star-circle honeycomb
good results as mentioned above. In order to further enhance the energy
absorption capability and mechanical properties of the auxetic honey­ The new combined star-circle honeycomb (SCH) can be obtained by
comb, various composite honeycombs designed based on geometric replacing the horizontal wall of star-shaped honeycomb(SSH) with two
transformations such as superposition, crossover, combination, etc. Has crossing oblique walls and introducing a thin-walled circle ring. Fig. 1
aroused great interest among scholars. As a typical example, Wang et al. shows the design strategy of the SCH and two periodic structures of SSH
[38] studied the in-plane impact resistance and energy absorption of a and SCH.
reentrant-star-shaped honeycomb (RSH) theoretically and numerically. Their total length and height of cell are same so as to compare the

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H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

Fig. 1. The design strategy and the geometric configuration. (a) the design strategy for SCH, (b) the solid models of the SSH and SCH, (c)–(d) the geometric schematic
diagram for the two honeycombs.

properties of the two honeycombs. There are four critical geometric

l1 = h / (2 sin θ) (1)
parameters for SCH: h is the height of the star-shape, θ is the angel be­
tween the incline wall and the vertical direction, α is the angel between
l2 = h/2 (2)
the incline wall and the horizontal direction, t is the thickness of the cell
wall. Based on the geometric relationships, other parameters of SSH and l3 = h/2 cos α (3)
SCH can be expressed as:

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H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

Table 1
r = l1 (sin θ − cos θ) (4)
The properties of the matrix material.
s = 2(h/2 + r) (5) Matrix Young’s Density Yield Poisson’s Strain
material modulus ρs (kg/ stress ratio hardening
where l1 is the length of inclined walls; l2 is the length of horizontal Es (GPa) m3) σys μ modulus Ep
(MPa) (MPa)
walls; l3 is the length of double-inclined walls; r is the radius of the circle
and s0 is the total length of the cell. aluminum 68.2 2700 80 0.3 500
As we all know, relative density is significant for honeycombs. Ac­ alloy
cording to Ref. [42,43,45], the relative densities of SSH and SCH can be
calculated respectively, as follows:
compression deformation of the honeycomb, a surface model was
ρ* 4 + sin θ t applied which was meshed by using shell elements [47]. In addition, an
ρ SSH
r = SSH = (6) automatic single-surface contact was employed to define the cell wall in
ρs cos θ(2 tan θ − 1) h
order to avoid the probable penetration. Meanwhile, the contact be­
ρ*SCH 2 tan θ(sin θ + 2 cos α) + π sin θ cos α(tan θ − 1) t tween the honeycombs and two rigid plates was set up as an automatic
ρSCH
r = = (7) surface-to-surface contact and a gap of 1 mm was reserved between the
ρs (2 tan θ − 1)sin θ cos α h
two rigid plates and the honeycomb to prevent initial penetration. The
where ρSSHr and ρSCHr are the relative densities of the SSH and SCH, static and dynamical coefficients of friction were taken to be 0.2 and
respectively. ρ*SSH and ρ*SCH are the corresponding densities of the two. ρs 0.15 [40], respectively.
is the density of matrix material. In this paper, the height of the cell h is To guarantee the accuracy of the simulation, an element sensitivity
10 mm, the angels θ and α are 60∘ and 30∘ , respectively. The thickness of analysis was conducted. Fig. 3 shows the equivalent stress-strain curves
all cell walls t is 0.3 mm and the corresponding relative densities of SSH with different element sizes including 0.3 mm,0.5 mm,0.6 mm,0.8 mm
and SCH can be obtained as 0.118 and 0.174. It is noticed that the and 1.0 mm under quasi-static compression. When the element size
honeycombs with different relative density can be designed by changing decreased, the equivalent stress decreased obviously and trended to
the wall thickness t in the next study. convergence. According to the results, a four-nodes Belytschko-Tasy

2.2. Finite element(FE) modeling

In order to better analyze the dynamics crushing behaviors and en­

ergy absorption of the SCH, a FE model was established with the help of
commercial software package LS-DYNA explicit code [46], which has
been embedded in ANSYS WORKBENCH19.0. The dynamical properties
of SSH are also simulated as a comparison with the SCH. As shown in
Fig. 2, the honeycombs were located between two rigid plates, where the
bottom plate was fixed and the top plate underwent a constant velocity
loading along the y-direction. The impact velocity v changes from 1 to
100 m/s corresponding the low-, medium- and high-velocity loading
modes to discuss the effects of impact velocity on deformation modes
and energy absorption capability. To simplify the simulation, the
out-of-plane width b was set up as 0.5 mm marked by the black dots
shown in Fig. 1(b)–(c). The out-of-plane displacements of all nodes of
honeycombs (along z-direction) were constrained to prevent them from
producing out-of-plane bending deformation, making sure the plane
strain situation.
The matrix material of the honeycombs is both non-linear aluminum
alloy which is assumed as a rate independent elastic-perfectly plastic
model and the properties of the matrix material are listed in Table 1. In
Fig. 3. Equivalent stress-strain curve of different element sizes.
order to improve calculation efficiency, and accurately simulate the

Fig. 2. FE models under impact loading. (a) SSH, (b) SCH.

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H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

shell element with a size of 0.5 mm is adopted to mesh the cell walls and velocity and high-velocity loading were calculated and compared with
there are five integration points through the thickness to guarantee the results of the finite element simulations.
convergence. After meshing, there are 12 elements for the inclined walls
and 10 elements for the horizontal walls in a single cell of the SSH. For 3.2.1. Low-velocity loading
the SCH, there are 12 elements for all the inclined walls and 28 elements Fig. 6 shows the in-plane crushing deformation process for SSH and
for the thin-walled circle. Additionally, 23,880 elements and 48,774 SCH under low-velocity impact of 1 m/s where the red squares represent
nodes for the whole FE model of the SSH were generated, as well as the original dimension of the honeycombs. As we can see, in the initial
32,560 elements and 63,960 nodes for the SCH. phase, the deformation of the SSH first occurs at the upper and lower
ends near the middle and forms two symmetrical V-shaped deformation
3. In-plane dynamics crushing behaviors under impact loading zones (Fig. 6(b)) due to the rotation and bending of the cell wall. Then
two V-shaped deformation bands with opening to the right and left
3.1. FE model validation appears in the middle (Fig. 6(c)). With the increasing of the crushing
displacement, the deformation zones expand to the impact and fixed
As mentioned in section 2.2, FE models have been established to ends, gradually transforming into horizontal and straight deformation
simulate the dynamics crushing of the honeycombs under different zones owing to the lateral shrinkage caused by the NPR effect (Fig. 6(d)
impact velocity. A validation analysis was carried out to ensure that the and (e)). Subsequently, there is a local densification with the part of the
models can accurately simulate the dynamic compression behavior of cell walls contacting (Fig. 6(f) and (g)). Eventually, all of the cell walls
the honeycombs. According to the Ref [41], a same model was built for touch each other as the compression continues, meaning that the
the star-arrowhead honeycomb (SAH) where impact velocity was 1 m/s, compression process is over. However, the deformation of the SCH are
and other settings were all same to the reference. The comparison was greatly distinguished from that under the same impact velocity (1 m/s).
shown in Fig. 4. It was known that the deformation of the validation In small deformation stages (Fig. 6(b) and (c)), uniform deformation
model was greatly agree with that of the reference. The stress-strain appears in the SCH distinguishing from the V-shaped deformation zones
curve was also shown as Fig. 5, where the stresses in marked points of the SSH. When the impact plate continues to compress the SCH, there
basically corresponded with that of the reference and the trend of the are V-shaped deformation bands similar to the SSH, expanding with the
curves was also consistent. Therefore, the established FE models were time increasing (Fig. 6(d) and (e)), in which the inclined walls of the SSH
reliable and useable for the next simulation study. rotate anticlockwise and bend. Meanwhile, the circle ring is also com­
pressed as an obround due to the horizontal common node contact be­
3.2. Dynamics crushing tween the circle ring and the star. Gradually, a local densification occurs
in the four corners of the SCH (Fig. 6(f)) with the certain cell walls
Auxetic honeycombs can produce different deformation modes as the contacting each other and the SCH becomes a completely dense struc­
impact velocity increasing. Therefore, in order to explore the influences ture which is equal to the bulk material in the final. In general, the
of impact velocity on the deformation modes and dynamic crushing, deformation of the SCH is more stable and uniform.
three kinds of deformation modes were studied for SCH under three y- In addition, the equivalent stress-strain curves were given as shown
direction impact velocities:1 m/s, 30 m/s and 100 m/s, and compared in Fig. 7, which can be calculated via dividing the contact force between
with the SSH. Furthermore, Both the theoretical plateau stress for low- the impact rigid plate and the honeycombs by the equivalent contact

Fig. 4. Comparison of deformation modes for the SAH. (a)validation model, (b) FE model in Ref. [41].

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H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

Fig. 5. Comparison of the stress-strain curve for the SAH. (a)validation model result, (b)result in Ref. [41].

area. It is obviously that there are four stages including linear elastic some energy can be dissipated. From (a) to (b), the wall AH rotated a
stage, the first plateau stage, the second plateau and the densification degree Δϕ, the wall IH rotated a degree Δφ. It is assumed that the length
stage. During the small strain stage, the elastic deformation mainly oc­ of the inclined walls maintains constant. According to the geometric
curs in the honeycomb, and then the cell walls yield which is also the relationship and deformation process of the cell, the degrees of the
beginning of the first plateau stage. In the first plateau stress stage, the hinges are calculated as
stress changes smoothly showing that the deformation is uniform, which
Δφ = θ − α (8)
is perfectly corresponding with the deformation modes in Fig. 6. When
the strain is about 0.37, the stress increases suddenly due to the contact π
between the inclined walls (marked by blue dot) and the cross inclined Δϕ = − θ (9)
2
walls (marked by red dot) in the illustration (b) of Fig. 7. Followed by,
Certainly, the cell’s relative displacement Δy along y direction and
the second plateau stage appears, where the stress hardens approxi­
the work WP performed by the crushing forces acting on the cell during
mately linearly owing to more cell walls contact. However, there is a
the first plateau stage are calculated as, respectively
valley stress when the strain is around 0.55, which is mainly caused by
( ) ( )
the lateral unstable collapse according to the deformation shown in the t cos π4 t cos π4 h sin α
(
sin α
)
illustration(d) of Fig. 7. Finally, more and more walls contact each other Δy = H0 − H1 = ( )+h − ( )+
sin θ
=h 1−
sin θ
together resulting in the extremely increasing stress until the structure sin θ − π4
sin θ − π 4

completely compacted. (10)

Based on the above analysis, it is concluded that the SCH exhibits
higher plateau stress which is a key parameter for the energy absorption. WP = σp1 s0 bΔy (11)
Moreover, it displays a double-plateau stage completely differing from
the SSH, which promotes the structure to absorb more energy. In this where H0 and H1 are the original height and the final height during the
respect, we established a theoretical model to calculate the analytical first plateau stress stage, respectively.σp1 , s0 and b are the first plateau
expression of the two plateau stress. It is expected to clear the effects of stress, the initial length and the out-of-plane depth of the unit, respec­
geometric parameters on the plateau stress and lead the subsequent tively and b = 0.5 mm.
structural optimization design theoretically. According to the collapse In the first stage, the total energy dissipation consists of two parts:
process and periodic characteristic of the SCH, a represent cell is the energy dissipation E1 by the plastic hinges in the inclined cell walls
employed for the theoretical analysis as Fig. 8, where the specific and the absorbed energy ER of the circle ring under compression. For the
deformation of the cell in two plateau stage was indicated. The theo­ first part, it can be calculated based on the plastic dissipation theory,
retical calculation of two plateau stress was based on the conservation of which is shown as:
energy for the entire honeycomb. In another word, the work done by the E1 = 8Mu Δφ + 8Mu Δϕ (12)
external force on the honeycomb is equal to the energy dissipated by the
plastic hinges in cell walls and that absorbed by the circle ring. where Δϕ and Δφ are the degrees of the hinges in the cell walls,
The initial and final configuration are shown in Fig. 8(a) and (b) of respectively. Mu is the plastic limit bending moment of the inclined walls
the first plateau stage. Taking 1/4 cell as an analysis example, the in­ (marked by red arrows in Fig. 8(a)) and Mu = σ ys bt 2 /4 is for the case of
clined wall AB rotated counterclockwise around points A and B simul­ the rectangle cross-section beams.
taneously until it contacted with the wall IH. Similarly, the strut AH During the deformation from (a) to (b), the circle ring produced
rotated around points A and H until it reached the horizontal direction radial shrinkage due to the lateral displacement of the common nodes,
whereas the inclined wall IH remained unchanged without deformation which is equivalent to the radial compression under the latera force for a
and rotation until the final of the first stress stage. The deformation single circle as shown in Fig. 9(a) and (b). Hence, the energy absorption
process of other cell walls was similar to the walls of the 1/4 cell because of the circle can be transformed into the work performed by the radial
of the geometric symmetry. Therefore, two plastic hinges form at the forces on the circle according to the conservation of energy. With regard
both ends of a cell wall. Sixteen plastic hinges appear in a typical cell to this, the ER can be expressed as [48,49]:
highlighted by red circles in Fig. 8(a). Meanwhile, the radial contraction ( )
∫ Δx
occurred in the circle owing to the common nodes contact between the Ep
ER = Fx dx = 2βσ ys bt2 arcsin(Δx / D) 1 + arcsin(Δx / D) (13)
circle and the inclined walls, highlighted by small blue circles, where 0 6βσ ys λf

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H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

Fig. 6. The deformation processes of the SSH and SCH under the crushing velocity of 1 m/s along the y direction (h = 10 mm, θ = 60◦ , α = 30◦ , ρr = 0.174). (the red
square represents the original dimension of the honeycombs and the marking lines with red and blue display the deformation zones of the honeycombs). (For
interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

where Fx represents the equivalent lateral force. Δx and D are the lateral [ ( ) (
Ep
)]
π
compression displacement and the diameter of the circle, respectively σ ys t2 2 2
− θ + 2(θ − α ) + 2β arcsin δ 1 + 6βσys λf
arcsin δ
shown as: σ p1 = ( )( ) (16)
α
h2 2 − tan1 θ 1 − sin
(14)
sin θ
Δx = 2(r − (l1 − l2 cos α)) = h(2 − 1 / tan θ − 1 / sin θ)

D = 2r = h(1 − 1 / tan θ) (15) where δ is a constant related to the geometric parameters of the SCH,
whose expression is δ = Δx /D = (2 − 1 /tan θ − 1 /sin θ) /(1 − 1 /tan θ).
σ ys is the yield strength of the matrix material. Ep is the strain hardening When the inclined walls overlap the cross walls (Fig. 8(b)), the stress
modulus of the material which is the rate of change of true stress to true increases rapidly and the second plateau stress stage begins. During the
strain after yielding listed in Table 1. β is a constant related to the ratio of second plateau stage, the overlapping walls A(I)H rotated around points
length to diameter of the circle ring, in this paper, β = 1. λf is the ratio of A and H and the horizontal wall AB only moves vertically without
the length of the plastic hinge to the wall thickness which is taken as 1 rotation or bend deformation until the structure was completely dense.
for this analysis. Different from the first stage, the compression of the circle in second
According to the above and the conservation of energy, a balance stage was not equivalent to that under the lateral forces, due to the
equation can be expressed as: E1 + ER = WP .Thence, we can get the horizontal walls restrict circle ring’s vertical movement. So, the energy
analytical expression of the first plateau stress for the SCH under low- absorption of the circle can no longer be calculated by Eq. (13). Known
velocity impact of 1 m/s: from the deformation process (Fig. 8(b) and (c)), two plastic hinges form
at the both ends of the compound walls with thickness of 2t and eight

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H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

hinges form in 1/4 arc and twelve plastic hinges appear in the circle ring
marked by the red dots shown in Fig. 8(c). According to the deformation
of the circle ring, we can know the total degree of the plastic sing hinge
of the circle ring is Δϕ = π/[Link] the increasing of the crushing
′

displacement, the unit was compressed until all walls contacted which
was densification stage perfectly. Considering the influence of the
thickness on the geometric parameters and the deformation of the circle
ring, the initial height and the densification height of the unit during the
second stress stage can be expressed as:
H1 = t cos(π / 4) / sin(θ − π / 4) + h sin α / sin θ (17)

H2 = 10t + πh(1 − 1 / tan θ)/10 (18)

Similarly, the calculation of the second plateau stress can be con­
ducted based on the conservation of energy, which is shown as:

(19)
′ ′ ′
8Mu Δφ + 12Mur Δϕ = σp2 s1 b(H1 − H2 )

where Mu = σ ys b(2t 2 ) /4 is the plastic bending moment of the composite

′

walls with the thickness of 2t, Mru = σys bt 2 /4 is the plastic bending
moment of the circle ring. Δφ and Δϕ are the rotation degrees of the
′ ′

Fig. 7. The equivalent stress-strain curves under impact velocity of 1 m/s (ρr
= 0.174). sing plastic hinge in the composite walls and the circle ring,
respectively.σ p2 is the second plateau stress. s1 is the length when the
plastic hinges appears in the unit heighted by the big blue circles, the second stage begins, which is expressed as
total rotated degree of the hinges is Δφ = α. For the circle ring, the
′ s1 = h /sin θ + t /(tanα /2) − 2t sin α according to the geometric
vertical moving of the horizontal walls and the lateral compression of relationship.
the composite walls cause the ring to be concave in the middle, trans­ Therefore, the expression of the second plateau stress σ p2 is:
formed from an oblong shape to a dog bone shape. Thus, three plastic

Fig. 8. The deformation phases of the represent cell under low-velocity impact (v = 1 m/s). (a) the initial configuration the first plateau stress stage, (b) the initial
configuration of the second plateau stress stage, (c) the densification configuration of the second stress stage.

Fig. 9. The compression schematic diagram of the circle. (a) under lateral displacements, (b) under radial forces.

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H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

( )
to the localized collapses step-by-step of the cell walls in the initial
σ ys t2 8α + 32π
crushing stage. Then the stress is gradually stable and oscillates around a
σ p2 = ( )( ) (20)
constant value. Since the intermediate configuration cell appears later
t cos π4 π (tan θ− 1)
and the number decreases, the strain range of the second plateau stress is
1 t 2t sin α ( ) + sin α − 10t
h2 sin θ
+ h tan α − h sin θ h
− 10 tan θ
2
h sin θ− π4
greatly reduced. According to the above, it is concluded that under
medium-velocity loading, the SCH not only produce overall deforma­
To verify the accuracy of the above theoretical analysis for the
tion, but also collapse locally like the high-velocity loading. Therefore,
plateau stress of the SCH under low-velocity crushing of 1 m/s, there are
the medium-velocity loading is a transition mode from low to high ve­
the compared results of the theoretical prediction and the numerical
locity which is also “T” mode.
simulation with different relative density for the two plateau stress as
shown in Fig. 10. Obviously, the theoretical calculation agrees well with
3.2.3. High-velocity loading
the simulation. Table 2 lists the specific values of the theoretical pre­
Under the high-velocity loading of 100 m/s, the deformation pro­
diction and simulation under different relative densities and impact
cesses of the two honeycombs are shown in Fig. 13. As we can see, the
velocities, and shows the relative errors of the two. It can be seen that
deformation first occurred at the impact end and the fixed end remained
the absolute value of the maximum relative error is 5.5% while other
the original state without deformation and motion. The cells of the SCH
errors are <5%, meaning that the above theoretical calculation models
collapse in a layer-by-layer way with a periodic process, and a straight I-
can exactly predict the two plateau stress of the SCH within the allow­
shape deformation band appears in the honeycombs and propagates
able range of error.
forward to the fixed until the SCH is totally crushed. In this case, the
inertia effect of the walls becomes dominant owing the increasing of the
3.2.2. Medium-velocity loading
impact velocity, causing that the cell walls at the impact end do not get
When the velocity increases, the deformation modes will change.
enough time to shrink transversely. So the SCH at the high-velocity
Fig. 11 shows the deformation phases with the crushing velocity of 30
loading do not display obvious dynamic negative Poisson’s ratio, as
m/s. In the initial stage, the deformation both first occurs at the impact
seen from the green rectangle representing the original honeycomb
end due to the inertial effect gradually appears, while the cells at the
dimension. The deformation of the SSH is similar to the SCH. Due to the
fixed retain still basically. The part of the cells is slightly crushed, and
periodic deformation of the cells, there are some peaking stress in the
localized collapses from the upper layer step-by-step form (Fig. 11(a)–
stress-strain curve as shown in Fig. 14, the number of which is approx­
(b)). With the increase of the crushing displacement, more and more cell
imately equal to the number of cell layers. Meanwhile, the stress of the
walls deform and the part of the cell walls near the impact end begin to
SCH fluctuates around a constant value until the cell walls are entirely
dense. Thus, some cells even collapse completely (the cells contained by
overlapped together and the crushing stress increases rapidly.
the red square Fig. 11(b)) At the same time, an incomplete X-shaped
Based on the periodic deformation characteristics, we established a
deformation zone forms and propagates to the fixed end (Fig. 11(b)) in
theoretical analysis model to calculate the crushing stress according to
the SSH. Similarly, the intermediate cell (Fig. 8(b)) under low-velocity
the momentum theorem. Fig. 15 shows a schematic diagram of the
loading also appears in the SCH (the cells contained by the green
theoretical analysis, in which a typical unit with two adjacent cells along
square in Fig. 11(b)). Besides, the necking shrinkage both occurs in the
y direction was taken as a research object (Fig. 15(a)). At the beginning
two honeycombs, which is the NPR effect. As the compression continues,
of the collapse, the upper cell first joins the densification state while the
the deformation zones continues to expand and more cell walls contact
lower cell remains unchanged (Fig. 15(b)). Subsequently, the lower cell
each other to dense locally (Fig. 11(c)). When great majority cell walls
repeats the deformation of the upper cell (Fig. 15(c)). During a periodic
contact together, collapse and densification follow (Fig. 11(d)). Fig. 12
deformation from (b)–(c) in Fig. 15, the change in momentum of a
shows the stress-strain curves under medium-velocity loading, corre­
typical unit can be shown as:
sponding to the deformation processes in Fig. 11. Unlike the low-
velocity loading, the stress displays more significant oscillation owing Δp = pt12 + pt22 − pt11 − pt21 (21)

where the superscript t1 and t2 represent the initial and final moment for
the collapse of a typical unit, respectively. The subscripts stand for the
number of the connected cells.
At the initial moment of a collapse period, i.e., the moment for t = t1 ,
the lower cell remains at the original position without any deformation
and motion (Fig. 15(b)), so, the momentum of the lower cell at this
moment pt21 is:

pt21 = 0 (22)
At the final instant of the collapse (t = t2 ), the lower cell deformed as
the upper cell at t = t1 , the momentum of the lower cell is equal to that
of the upper cell at the initial moment, that is:

pt22 = pt11 (23)

Therefore, by substituting Eqs. (21) and (22) into Eq. (20), we can get
the total change in momentum expressed as:

Δp = pt12 (24)
Eq. (23) represents that the change in momentum of the typical unit
during the periodic collapse is equal to that of the upper cell at the final
moment. For the cell I, every cell wall moves along vertical direction
with a contain velocity v, so, the momentum at t2 can be calculated as
Fig. 10. The comparison of the theoretical and numerical results for the two
follows:
plateau stresses of the SCH under the impact of 1 m/s.

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H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

Table 2
The compared results of the theoretical calculation and numerical simulation of the two plateau stress under low-velocity loading.
Impact velocityv Relative The first plateau stress Relative errors The second plateau stress Relative errors
(m/s) densities (%) (%)
σp1 (MPa) σp2 (MPa)
ρr
Theoretical Numerical Theoretical Numerical
calculation simulation calculation simulation

1 0.18 0.5729 0.5609 2.1 2.5182 2.5096 0.6

0.16 0.4431 0.4271 3.7 1.8075 1.8074 0.006
0.13 0.2805 0.2658 5.5 1.0429 1.0658 − 2.1
3 0.18 0.5729 0.5586 2.6 2.5182 2.5037 0.6
0.16 0.4431 0.4315 2.7 1.8075 1.8156 − 0.4
0.13 0.2805 0.2687 4.4 1.0429 1.0581 − 1.4
5 0.18 0.5729 0.5563 2.0 2.5182 2.5623 − 1.7
0.16 0.4431 0.4414 0.4 1.8075 1.8146 − 0.4
0.13 0.2805 0.2773 1.2 1.0429 1.0744 − 2.9

Fig. 11. The deformation under medium-velocity loading (v = 30 m/s) (h = 10 mm, θ = 60◦ , α = 30◦ , ρr = 0.174). (the blue square represents the original dimension
of the honeycombs and the marking lines with red and green display the deformation zones of the honeycombs). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this
figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

pAB = pBC = pCK = pKF = pFG = pGH = pHL = pLA = ρs l1 btv Finally, by substituting Eq. (20)- (25) and Eq. (27) into Eq. (26), the
crushing stress under high-velocity loading can be calculated as:
pDK = pKE = pIL = pLJ = ρs l2 btv ( )
4
+ cos2 α + π 1 − tan1 θ
(25)
sin θ
pcircle = ρs 2π rbtv σ1 = σ2 + ( )( )ρs v2 (28)
h α 1
According to the conservation of the momentum, we can get: t
+ 2 cos 2
− 6 2 − tan θ

∫t2 However, it is noticed that the supported stress σ2 is equivalent to the

bs0 (σ 1 − σ 2 )dt = bs0 (σ 1 − σ 2 )(t2 − t1 ) = Δp (26) quasi-static stress σ0 due to the supported cells remain static without
t1 deformation and motion during high-velocity collapse. In this paper, the
stress σ0 can be replaced by the average plateau stress σ p under low-
where the σ1 and σ2 are the stress acting on the impacting end and the velocity loading. Because of the two plateau stress under low-velocity
supported end, respectively.s0 is the initial length of the cell expressed as loading, a constant η is introduced to describe the strain range of the
Eq. (5) first plateau stress and the second plateau stress [38]. Therefore, the
From the state (b) to state (c), the typical unit moves from H1 to H2 supported stress σ2 can be expressed as:
with a constant velocity v during a periodic deformation, so the cycle
time of the collapse process is: σ 2 = σ p = ησp1 + (1 − η)σp2 (29)

H1 − H2 h − 6t As we can see from Fig. 7, the strain range of the first plateau stress is
T = t2 − t1 = = (27)
v v little wider than that of the second, and the deformation of the cell near

10
H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

the two results demonstrate good agreement and the relative errors are
<4%, which proves that the theoretical analysis methods under the
high-velocity impact can accurately predict the crushing stress of the
SCH.

4. Discussions

4.1. Deformation mechanism of the SCH

As mentioned above, The SCH is designed through two crossed

oblique walls replacing the horizontal cell wall in SSH, and introducing a
thin-walled circle to contact the four corners of the star structure. Ac­
cording to the stress-strain curve under quasi-static loading (low-ve­
locity loading), the equivalent stress of the SCH is much higher than that

Fig. 12. The stress-strain curve under impact velocity of 30 m/s (ρr = 0.174).

the supported end is more similar to the first plateau stage. Hence, η =
0.6 is taken to estimate the average plateau stress σp . By Eq. (29)
substituting into Eq. (28), the final expression of the high-velocity
crushing stress is:
( )
4 2 1
sin θ
+ cos α
+ π 1 − tan θ
σ1 = σp + ( )( )ρs v2 (30)
h α 1
t
+ 2 cos 2
− 6 2 − tan θ

Using the same method to the low-velocity loading, the comparison

of both the theoretical prediction and the numerical simulation with
different relative densities and impact velocities under high-velocity
loading is shown in Fig. 16. Similarly, Table 3 provides the values and
relative errors of the theoretical calculation and simulation. Evidently, Fig. 14. The stress-strain curves under impact velocity of 100 m/s (ρr = 0.174).

Fig. 13. The deformation process of the SCH under high-velocity impact (v = 100 m/s) (h = 10 mm, θ = 60◦ , α = 30◦ , ρr = 0.174). (the green square represents the
original dimension of the honeycombs and the red lines display the deformation zones of the SCH). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend,
the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

11
H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

Fig. 15. The deformation process of a typical unit under high-velocity impact of 100 m/s (a) the initial configuration of a typical unit, (b) the configuration of the
beginning of the collapse, (c) the densification configuration of the end of the collapse.

Table 3
The theoretical and numerical results under high-velocity loading.
Impact Relative The high-velocity plateau stress Relative
velocityv (m/ densities errors (%)
σ1 (MPa)
s) ρr
Theoretical Numerical
calculation simulation

70 0.18 4.0746 4.1738 − 2.14

0.16 3.3760 3.4562 − 2.3
0.13 2.4777 2.4799 − 0.09
80 0.18 4.9083 5.0868 − 3.5
0.16 4.1067 4.1559 − 1.2
0.13 3.0570 2.9791 2.6
10 0.18 6.9093 6.9436 − 0.5
0.16 5.8605 5.8511 0.2
0.13 4.4472 4.5729 − 2.7

reason why the shear deformation band generate described by the red
dashed line in Fig. 6. For the SCH, on the one hand, two crossed inclined
walls (the green walls in Fig. 17(a)) improve the stability of deforma­
tion, so that the deformation of the structure is highly symmetrical
without lateral unstable collapse (Fig. 17(c)). On the other hand, the
Fig. 16. The comparison of the theoretical and numerical results for the SCH
under the impact of 100 m/s.
embedded effect of the thin-walled circle and the star causes the circle
undergoing lateral compression and expanding longitudinally, which
drives the oblique walls of the star to rotate counterclockwise until the
of SSH, especially there are two plateau stress stages for SCH which is
cell wall comes into contact. Hence, there are only eight plastic hinges in
mainly caused by the structural changes. In order to further investigate
the SSH (the green circles in Fig. 17(b)) while sixteen plastic hinges form
the deformation mechanism, the deformation processes of representa­
in the SCH during the first stage (the red circles in Fig. 17(c)), resulting
tive cells of the two honeycombs under low-velocity loading are
in enhanced plateau stress and more energy absorption for SCH. When
extracted as shown in Fig. 17. Obviously, the structural changes directly
the cells continue to collapse, the increased eight plastic hinges in the
lead to changes in its deformation characteristics (shown in Fig. 17(a)).
SSH (the black circles in Fig. 17(b)). Similarly, eight new plastic hinges
It is found by comparison that for the representative unit of SSH, there
form at the ends of the incline walls with a thickness of 2t (the purple
are two types of shapes during the deformation process (as shown in
circles in Fig. 8(b)) and twelve plastic hinges appear in the circle (the red
Fig. 17(b)–(c)).
dots in Fig. 17(c)), which dissipates more impact energy.
In these two types of shapes, the blue cell wall rotates around the
In a word, the mechanism of energy absorption for enhanced struc­
ends of the cell wall and bends. Two plastic hinges forming at the ends of
ture includes three points, 1) There are more plastic hinges in the
the wall, while the other incline cell walls basically not deform during
enhanced structure to dissipate more plastic energy; 2) The circle can
the first half of the compression phase. However, the horizontal walls
absorb more plastic energy because of the lateral compression caused by
remain original shape during the whole process. Moreover, the cells
the transverse shrinkage of the two horizontal nodes; 3) The two crossed
collapse unstably which causes a lower plateau stress. It is also the

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H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

Fig. 17. The comparison of the deformation and the deformation mechanism schematic diagram. (a) the effect of the structural changes (b) the deformation of the
representative unit of SSH (c) the deformation of the representative unit of SCH.

inclined walls make the deformation more stable to enhanced the and Δε2 are defined as the strain range of the first plateau stress and the
crushing strength. second plateau stress, respectively. Fig. 18(a) shows the two parameters
and the ratio of them under different velocities and Fig. 18(b) indicates
the plateau stress to investigate the effects of the impact velocity on the
4.2. Effects of the impact velocity and the relative densities mechanical response. It is obviously found that the range of the first
plateau stress increases with the increasing of the impact velocity, while
4.2.1. Stress-strain curve the range of the second plateau stress decreases until approximately
As shown in section 3.2.1, the stress-strain curve of the SCH under equal to 0. Meanwhile, the first and second plateau stress both increase
the loading of 1 m/s exhibits the following characteristics: i).higher as the velocity increases, which means that the honeycomb can absorb
yield stress. ii). compared with the hardened stress of the SSH, there is a more energy under the high velocity. Thence, the impact velocity greatly
more stable and higher plateau stress. iii).two plateau stress stage, which influences the plateau stress and there is just only one plateau stress
meet the basic requirements of ideal energy-absorbing structures and stage as the velocity increases.
can improve the capability of the honeycomb [50]. On the one hand, the
honeycomb is elastically deformed without local plastic buckling in the 4.2.2. Deformation modes map
initial crushing phase resulted in a lower initial peak stress. On the other In section 3, the deformation modes for the two honeycombs have
hand, the cross double inclined walls introduced in the cell make the been discussed under three types of impact velocities. We can find that
deformation symmetrical and stable as well as the circle ring delays the there is a great influence of the velocity and relative density on the
necking deformation of the original star structure to produce two deformation modes. With regards to this, a deformation modes map has
plateau stress stage and increase the plateau stress. The parameters Δε1

Fig. 18. The stress-strain characteristic of the SCH under various velocities (the relative density is 0.174 and t = 0.3 mm). (a) the strain range, (b) the plateau stress.

13
H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

Fig. 20. Densification strain of the two honeycombs under various velocities
Fig. 19. The deformation modes map of the SCH. (the relative densities are both 0.174).

been drawn to intuitively show the deformation modes under different the energy absorption. Generally speaking, the specific energy absorp­
velocities and relative densities, shown in Fig. 19. Meanwhile, the tion (SEA) UM [51,52] is used to estimate the capability of absorbing
deformation modes maps of the RSH [38] and SAH [41] are also adopted energy for a certain structure which can be expressed as:
to make a comparison. From the map, we can know that there is a linear ∫ εd
relationship between the impact velocity and the relative density, that is U VUV σdε
UM = = = 0 (33)
to say, when the relative density increases, a greater velocity is needed M M ρr ρs
to change the deformation mode of the honeycombs. In order to facili­
where U is the total energy absorption, UV is the energy absorbed per
tate the judgment of the deformation mode, the critical velocity of dis­
unit volume which is the mathematical area covered by the stress-strain
tinguishing the three deformation modes are linearly fitted as shown by
curve. εd is the densification strain, which is the strain where the hon­
the red and black lines in Fig. 20. The empirical expressions are as
eycomb begins to densify and the stress increases extremely. ρr and ρs
follows:
are the relative density and the matrix material density of the honey­
vc1 = 97ρr − 3 (31) comb, respectively.
For the honeycomb, since it becomes an entity after being densified
vc2 = 286ρr + 14 (32) and cannot continue to absorb energy, the considerable strain when
When the velocity is below the first critical velocity (the black line), calculating the specific energy absorption ranges from 0 to εd . In the
the deformation mode is a low-velocity mode, and the deformation oc­ previous study, some researchers have defined the densification strain as
curs throughout the entire honeycomb. When the speed increases to εd = 1 − λρr (λ = 1.4) [53]. However, considerable research has shown
between the first and second critical velocity, the deformation is not that the densification strain can be affected by the crushing velocity and
only the overall deformation, but also the occurrence of local layer-by- the topological structures under dynamic crushing loading [54]. In order
layer deformation. As the velocity further increases until it exceeds to eliminate the influence of contrived factors, more and more scholars
the second critical speed (the red line), its deformation mode changes use the method of energy absorption efficiency to determine the densi­
greatly, showing the characteristic of periodic collapsing layer-by-layer fication strain [55]. Additionally, the last maximum point on the energy
which means that it is in the high-velocity mode. According to the map, efficiency-strain curve is defined as the initial point of the densification
for the three types of auxetic honeycombs, the SCH requires a higher strain [56]. The expressions are shown as follows:
crushing velocity to reach the medium-velocity and high-velocity dE(ε)
loading modes, while the velocity required to enter the medium-speed | =0 (34)
dε ε=εd
mode from low speed is smaller. Therefore, we can conclude that the
SCH is more suitable for impact resistance under medium- and high- ∫ε
velocity loading, while the SAH exhibits better impact resistance un­ σ(ε)dε
dergoing low- and medium-velocity loading. In a word, the SCH has E(ε) = 0
(35)
greater potential in energy absorption among the existing auxetic σ(ε)
honeycombs.
where E(ε) is the energy absorption efficiency of the cellular structures.
According to the above, the densification strain εd can be calculated.
4.3. Energy absorption Thence, Fig. 20 shows the densification strains for the two honeycombs
under different crushing velocities through the methods of the energy
In this section, the energy absorption capability is analyzed through absorption efficiency. Obviously, the densification strains of the SSH and
comparison to investigate the contribution of the structural changes on

14
H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

SCH both increase with the increasing of impact velocity, as well as the 4.4. Dynamical Poisson’s ratio
densification strain of the SCH is lower than that of the SSH. The cell
walls of the SCH will come into contact in advance compared with the In this paper, the SCH exhibits negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR) under
SSH during the compression process, due to the circle ring with a impact loading i.e. the auextic performance. In order to study the effect
thickness is embedded in the cell. Therefore, the densification strain of the impact velocity on the auextic performance, the dynamical
reduces, which is not good for the energy absorption. However, from Poisson’s ratio for the SCH and SSH under three types of impact veloc­
another perspective, the SCH exhibits higher plateau stress with two ities (1 m/s, 30 m/s and 100 m/s) is analyzed as well as the transverse
plateau stress stage due to the circle ring. Fig. 21 shows that the SEA strain.
changes with the equivalent strain under three types of velocities and For this study, we can calculate the transverse strain εx via dividing
Table 4 gives the specific data of the SCH and SSH under different ve­ the average of the transverse deformation of the nodes between the right
locities to compare their energy absorption capacity quantitatively. and left edge of the finite element model by the original transverse
When increasing the velocity, the energy absorption per unit mass length [38,40]. Specifically speaking, the transverse average deforma­
for the two honeycombs both increases and the SCH can absorb more tion Δx and the transverse strain εx be calculated according to the
energy than the SSH with the same wall thickness. Specifically, under x-direction displacement of the eight representative marked symmetric
low-velocity and medium-velocity impact (1 m/s and 30 m/s), the nodes in Fig. 22, whose expressions are respectively:

(Ax + A1x + Bx + B1x + Cx + C1x + Dx + D1x + Ex + E1x + Fx + F1x + Gx + G1x + Hx + H1x )

Δx = (36)
8

absorbed energy of the SCH are 117% and 159% larger than that of the
SSH, respectively. Under high-velocity loading of 100 m/s, the absorbed
energy of the SCH is only 7.4% larger than the SSH. Combining the
εx = Δx/X (37)
deformation modes of the honeycombs under different velocity and the
deformation mechanisms (Fig. 16), there are more plastic hinges at the Where Δx is the average contraction displacement in the x-direction; Ax ,
ends of inclined walls for the SCH and the circle ring also absorbs some A1x etc. are the transverse displacements of the symmetric nodes on both
energy due to undergo lateral compression compared with the SSH, edges; X is the original length of the honeycomb in the x-direction.
which can greatly contribute to the energy absorption of the SCH. In Similarly, the longitudinal strain εy is equal to the ratio of the vertical
order to prove the enhanced energy absorption capability of the SCH,
displacement of the top plate along y direction to the initial height of the
the comparison between the energy absorption of the other auxetic
model. According to the definition of the Poisson’s ratio, the dynamical
honeycombs [38,40,41,57] in previous studies and the SCH is provided
Poisson’s ratio νyd can be expressed as:
in Table 5. We can find that the SCH exhibits outstanding energy ab­
sorption capacity among those auxetic honeycombs under different εx Δx/X
νyd = − = (38)
crushing modes, which means that the design strategy of the intracel­ εy Δy/Y
lular embedded connection of different cells can significantly improve
the energy absorption of the honeycomb, and it maybe a reference for where Y is the initial height in the y-direction, and Δy is the y-direction
the design of subsequent new honeycombs with higher energy displacement of the top plate during the crushing.
absorption. Fig. 23 show the results of the two honeycombs under different ve­
locities based on Eq. (38). As we can see, when undergoing low-velocity
loading, the SCH and SSH both exhibit auxetic performance and the
auxetic performance of the SSH is better than the SCH. As the increase of
impact velocity, the absolute value of dynamical Poisson’s ratio de­
creases which means that the transverse shrinkage deformation reduces,
weakening the auxetic performance of the auxetic honeycombs. Mean­
while, the transverse strain shows a trend of first increasing and then
decreasing with the increase of the compression strain, which implies

Table 4
The SEA of the SCH and SSH under three types of loading modes.
Impact velocity (m/ UM-SCH (kJ/ UM-SSH (kJ/ (UM-SCH-UM-SSH)/UM-
s) kg) kg) SSH

1 1.479 0.682 117%

30 3.907 1.508 159%
100 11.727 10.914 7.4%

Table 5
The comparison of the energy absorption for different auxetic honeycombs.
Crushing modes UM (kJ/kg)

SCH SAH STH RSH SH RH

Low-velocity 1.479 0.584 1.104 0.427 0.526 0.233

Medium-velocity 3.907 0.612 1.619 0.560 0.831 0.334
Fig. 21. The specific energy absorption of the two honeycombs under different
High-velocity 11.727 1.690 10.821 4.394 10.146 2.642
velocities (the relative densities are both 0.174).

15
H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

Fig. 22. The schematic diagram for calculating the transverse average displacement.

Fig. 23. The dynamical passion’s ratios and corresponding transverse strains of the SCH and SSH under different impact velocity (the thickness t = 0.3 mm). (a) v =
1 m/s, (b) v = 30 m/s, (c) v = 100 m/s.

that the lateral shrinkage deformation mainly occurs at the two plateau 5. Conclusions
stress stages. Furthermore, the transverse contraction of the SCH mainly
occurs at the first plateau stress stage, while that of the SSH appears at In this work, based on the design strategy of intracellular combina­
the whole deformation process. tion between the different single cells, a novel auxetic honeycomb
combining the circle and the star is proposed to enhance the mechanical
performance and energy absorption. As well as, the in-plane dynamic

16
H. Lu et al. Thin-Walled Structures 160 (2021) 107366

crushing characteristics and the energy absorption capability are Innovation Plan of National Defense Technology Industry Basic Products
investigated with the help of theoretical and numerical methods. There and Xi’an Institute of Modern Chemistry Open Cooperative Innovation
are series of results as follows: Fund. The authors are grateful for their support.

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