An intricate, honeycomb-like structure of struts and beams could withstand a supersonic impact better than a solid slab of the same material. What’s more, the specific structure matters, with some being more resilient to impacts than others.

That’s what MIT engineers find in experiments with microscopic metamaterials—materials that are intentionally printed, assembled, or otherwise engineered with microscopic architectures that give the overall material exceptional properties.

By firing microparticles at supersonic speeds, MIT engineers can test the resilience of various metamaterials made from structures as small as a red blood cell. Pictured are four video stills of a microparticle hitting a structure made of metamaterials. Image courtesy of the researchers.

In a study appearing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the engineers report on a new way to quickly test an array of metamaterial architectures and their resilience to supersonic impacts.

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