Damping Optimization and Energy Absorption of Mechanical Metamaterials for Enhanced Vibration Control Applications: A Critical Review

Metamaterials are pushing the limits of traditional materials and are fascinating frontiers in scientific innovation. Mechanical metamaterials (MMs) are a category of metamaterials that display properties and performances that cannot be realized in conventional materials. Exploring the mechanical properties and various aspects of vibration and damping control is becoming a crucial research area. Their geometries have intricate features inspired by nature, which make them challenging to model and fabricate. The fabrication of MMs has become possible because of the emergence of additive manufacturing (AM) technology. Mechanical vibrations in engineering applications are common and depend on inertia, stiffness, damping, and external excitation. Vibration and damping control are important aspects of MM in vibrational environments and need to be enhanced and explored. This comprehensive review covers different vibration and damping control aspects of MMs fabricated using polymers and other engineering materials. Different morphological configurations of MMs are critically reviewed, covering crucial vibration aspects, including bandgap formation, energy absorption, and damping control to suppress, attenuate, isolate, and absorb vibrations. Bandgap formation using different MM configurations is presented and reviewed. Furthermore, studies on the energy dissipation and absorption of MMs are briefly discussed. In addition, the vibration damping of various lattice structures is reviewed along with their analytical modeling and experimental measurements. Finally, possible research gaps are highlighted, and a general systematic procedure to address these areas is suggested for future research. This review paper may lay a foundation for young researchers intending to start and pursue research on additive-manufactured MM lattice structures for vibration control applications.