3D Printed Materials with Nanovoxelated Elastic Moduli

Fabrication methods that synthesize materials with higher precision and complexity at ever smaller scales are rapidly developing. Despite such advances, generating complex 3D materials with controlled mechanical properties at the nanoscale remains challenging. Exerting precise control over mechanical properties at the nanoscale would enable material strengths near theoretical maxima, and the replication of natural structures with hitherto unattainable strength-to-weight ratios. Here, a method for fabricating materials with nanovoxelated elastic moduli by employing a volume-conserving photoresist composed of a copolymer hydrogel, along with OpenScribe, an open-source software that enables the precise programming of material mechanics, is presented. Combining these, a material composed of periodic unit cells featuring heteromechanically tessellated soft-stiff structures, achieving a mechanical transition over an order-of-magnitude change in elastic modulus within 770 nm, a 130-fold improvement on previous reports, is demonstrated. This work critically advances material design and opens new avenues for fabricating materials with specifically tailored properties and functionalities through unparalleled control over nanoscale mechanics.