Strong, lightweight, and recoverable three-dimensional ceramic nanolattices

Compressive, ductile ceramic nanolattices Ceramics are strong and stiff, but their limited ability to stretch like putty or steels makes them unsuitable for many engineering applications. Meza et al. constructed ceramic nanolattices from aluminum oxide, in which the beams are designed to stretch rather than bend. A key parameter in lattice design is the ratio of the wall thickness to the beam radius. When that ratio is small enough, compressing the beams does not break them. That way, the nanolattices can be highly compressed and recover to something close to their original shape when the stress is removed. Science , this issue p. 1322