Honeycomb-patterning in soft polymer networks: using geometry to manipulate toughness and failure

Alyssa VanZanten; Emily England; Aditya Ketkar; Cooper Priest; Surbhi Punhani-Schillinger; Hongwei Wu; Giuseppe Buscarnera; Michelle Driscoll; Caroline R. Szczepanski

doi:10.1039/d6lp00046k

January 1, 2026RSC Applied PolymersOpen Access

Honeycomb-patterning in soft polymer networks: using geometry to manipulate toughness and failure

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Key Points

The aim is to investigate how honeycomb-patterning affects the toughness and failure modes of soft polymer networks.
Evaluated hexagonal patterning in soft polymer networks.
Analyzed the correlation between geometry and material toughness.
Compared brittle and non-brittle base materials.
Honeycomb-patterned networks exhibited significantly higher toughness compared to traditional flat structures.
Increased geometry complexity correlates with reduced failure rates in thick sections.
Toughness enhancements were quantified, showing improvements by up to 50% in certain configurations.

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Implication

Demonstrates improved toughness through honeycomb-patterned geometries, suggesting new design strategies for materials.

Abstract

Hexagonal (i.e. honeycomb) patterning has been previously shown to increase overall material toughness as a function of geometry when the base lattice material is brittle in nature. However, similar design...

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VanZanten et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a1a7fce0307b78509431f66 https://doi.org/10.1039/d6lp00046k

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Honeycomb-patterning in soft polymer networks: using geometry to manipulate toughness and failure

Key Points

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Implication

Abstract

Discussion

Cite This Study

Honeycomb-patterning in soft polymer networks: using geometry to manipulate toughness and failure

Key Points

Ask about this paper

Implication

Abstract

Discussion

Cite This Study

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