On the practicability of pentamode mechanical metamaterials

Conceptually, all conceivable three-dimensional mechanical materials can be built from pentamode materials. Pentamodes also enable to implement three-dimensional transformation elastodynamics—the analogue of transformation optics. However, pentamodes have not been realized experimentally. Here, we investigate inasmuch the pentamode theoretical ideal suggested by Milton and Cherkaev in 1995 can be approximated by a metamaterial with current state-of-the-art lithography. Using numerical calculations calibrated by our fabricated three-dimensional microstructures, we find that the figure of merit, i.e., the ratio of bulk modulus to shear modulus, can realistically be made as large as about 1000.