Hrl Laboratories, LLC

Jie Jiang

Tobias A Schaedler

Zak C Eckel

Sophia Shu Yang

Alan Jon Jacobsen

Christopher Stephen Roper

Jacob Michael Hundley

William B Carter

Adam E Sorensen

Christopher Paul Henry

Sloan Patrick Smith

Jacob John Mikulsky

Architected materials with superior energy absorption properties when loaded in compression. In several embodiments such materials are formed from micro-truss structures composed of interpenetrating tubes in a volume between a first surface and a second surface. The stress-strain response of these structures, for compressive loads applied to the two surfaces, is tailored by arranging for some but not all of the tubes to extend to both surfaces, adjusting the number of layers of repeated unit cells in the structure, arranging for the nodes to be offset from alignment along lines normal to the surfaces, or including multiple interlocking micro-truss structures.

Energy absorbing truss structures for mitigation of injuries from blasts and impacts

Branched hierarchical micro-truss structures may be incorporated into energy-absorbing structures to exhibit a tailored multi-stage buckling response to a range of different compressive loads. Branched hierarchical micro-truss structures may also be configured to function as vascular systems to deliver fluid for thermal load management or altering the aerodynamic properties of a vehicle or structure into which the branched hierarchical micro-truss structure is incorporated. The branched hierarchical micro-truss structure includes a first layer having a series of interconnected struts and a second layer having a series of struts branching outward from an end of each of the struts in the first layer.

Hierarchical branched micro-truss structure and methods of manufacturing the same

A nonlinear mechanical element including a buckling column and hard stops. In one embodiment when the nonlinear mechanical element is subjected to an increasing compressive load, the buckling column buckles at a critical load, resulting in reduced stiffness past the critical load. One or more lateral hard stops may be provided adjacent to the buckling column to prevent the buckling deformation from exceeding a certain extent, and axial hard stops may be provided to shift the load path away from the buckling column when a certain amount of compressive displacement has been reached.

Buckling column load switch spring

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Sherman Oaks, CA, United States of America

Jie Jiang