Architected Lattice-Reinforced Composites for Cementitious Material and Asphalt Concrete Toward Lightweight and Energy Absorption

Toward a carbon–neutral future, assembly of prefabricated components like building blocks, as a very advantageous construction way, is being vigorously developed in all areas of civil engineering that can effectively reduce pollution, save resources, and lower costs. Fortunately, this trend is being further driven by additive manufacturing, giving these modular prefabricated assemblies the high performance of lightweight, high strength, and toughness to adapt to the advantages of intelligent construction for structural performance and construction efficiency. Here, we exploit the lattice-reinforced composites (LRC) for the commonly-used cementitious materials and asphalt concrete embedded with versatile 3-dimensional lattices fabricated by 3D printing, and we confirm the “materials by design” approach through experimental tests and numerical simulations. For LRC of cementitious materials, we characterize the reinforcing mechanism of LRC specimens subjected to axial compression and bending, confirm the effects of geometric variations and lattice-reinforcing volume ratios on the strength, ductility, and toughness of LRC specimens, and our LRC can be designed to be stronger and lighter. For LRC of asphalt concrete, we propose the stress absorption interlayers laminated with 3D architected lattices in asphalt mixtures as a bridging toughening mechanism to mitigate reflective cracking. Guided by bending fracture and fatigue tests and extended finite element models (XFEM), we identify the effects of 3D-printing materials, and geometric lattices on crack propagation and load cycles. We envisage that our LRC approach by design broadens the channels to further boost the potential of architected lattices, enhance the high performance of LRC materials, and accelerate the industrialization, digitalization, and intelligent transformation of construction for building sustainable and resilient infrastructures.