Lattice structures as thermoelastic strain gradient metamaterials: Evidence from full-field simulations and applications to functionally step-wise-graded beams

The present work investigates the mechanical and thermomechanical bending response of beam structures possessing a triangular lattice microarchitecture. The validity of generalized continuum models, in general, and the associated dimensionally reduced models for functionally step-wise-graded microarchitectural beams, in particular, is approved by full-field finite element simulations. Most importantly, the necessity of the temperature gradient...