Architected cellular ceramics with tailored stiffness via direct foam writing

Hierarchical cellular structures are ubiquitous in nature because of their low-density, high-specific properties, and multifunctionality. Inspired by these systems, we created lightweight ceramic architectures composed of closed-cell porous struts patterned in the form of hexagonal and triangular honeycombs by direct foam writing. The foam ink contains bubbles stabilized by attractive colloidal particles suspended in an aqueous solution. The printed and sintered ceramic foam honeycombs possess low relative density (∼6%). By tailoring their microstructure and geometry, we created honeycombs with different modes of deformation, exceptional specific stiffness, and stiffness values that span over an order of magnitude. This capability represents an important step toward the scalable fabrication of hierarchical porous materials for applications, including lightweight structures, thermal insulation, tissue scaffolds, catalyst supports, and electrodes.