A Novel Fabrication Method For Shellular

Shellular has excellent mechanical properties at very low densities as it is composed of a continuous thin shell with a constant mean curvature that enables it to resist external loads by coplanar stresses alone without stress concentration. This paper presents a novel fabrication method for shellular by stretching a resin film over a truss frame and subsequent curing. First, a truss frame is formed by 3D printing; then, two types of resins are used to form smooth thermoplastic and thermosetting polymer shells. The compression properties reveal that the shellulars, i.e., the shells stretched tightly over the truss frame have significantly enhanced strength and stiffness compared with the standalone frames.