Design of materials with prescribed nonlinear properties

We systematically design materials using topology optimization to achieve prescribed nonlinear properties under finite deformation. Instead of a formal homogenization procedure, a numerical experiment is proposed to evaluate the material performance in longitudinal and transverse tensile tests under finite deformation, i.e. stress-strain relations and Poisson's ratio. By minimizing errors between actual and prescribed properties, materials are tailored to achieve the target. Both two dimensional (20) truss-based and continuum materials are designed with various prescribed nonlinear properties. The numerical examples illustrate optimized materials with rubber-like behavior and also optimized materials with extreme strain-independent Poisson's ratio for axial strain intervals of epsilon(i) is an element of [0.00, 0.30]. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.