# MIT and Northeastern design scale-rich metamaterials with a 190-fold range of elastic anisotropy

- Published: 2026-11-12 06:39 UTC
- Section: Machines & Making › Materials science
- Tags: scale-rich metamaterials, mechanical metamaterials, network design, elastic anisotropy, energy absorption, impact resistance, acoustic lens, elastic-wave control, Carlos Portela
- URL: https://realtech.media/news/rt-f6d59d3d0a60ffb30c8df00d_mit_and_northeastern/

**MIT and Northeastern University researchers built metamaterials from networks of ligaments of widely varying size; simulations and tests showed tunable stiffness and impact absorption.**

![MIT and Northeastern design scale-rich metamaterials with a 190-fold range of elastic anisotropy](https://realtech.media/media/2026/11/1a66c91d2e0e8190.jpg)
*Robin Zitt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0*

A team from MIT and Northeastern University has proposed a new way to design mechanical metamaterials, using network structures instead of repeated identical unit cells. The work was published in the open-access journal Nature; the primary source is the paper at doi.org. [1] The authors call the materials "scale-rich" networks.

Conventional metamaterials are built from a single unit cell, so their pore sizes, bond thicknesses and lengths are uniform or take a few discrete values. [1] The authors point out that networks in nature, such as the Internet and the brain, are strongly heterogeneous in connectivity and link length. [1]

## Network design inspired by nature

The authors cite biological examples. Dragonfly wing veins range in length from 0.1 mm to about 50 mm. Leaf venation spans from about 10^-1 mm to 10^3 mm, and spider-web strands from about 1 mm to 10^3 mm. In bone, rod and plate elements range from about 100 to 1,500 μm in length and from about 40 to 400 μm in thickness. [1]

In scale-rich metamaterials, ligament length, thickness and connectivity span orders of magnitude within one structure. [1] The design is governed by only two parameters. [1] An algorithm generates the microstructure network for a desired property. [1]

## Properties in simulations and experiments

Simulations and experiments showed properties that single-scale systems did not provide. [1] The authors report a 190-fold tunable range of elastic anisotropy across densities, and stable, delocalized nonlinear deformation with high energy absorption. [1] They also report enhanced energy dissipation under dynamic loading and programmable elastic-wave responses. [1]

In mechanical tests, the new materials covered a wide range of stiffness and withstood sudden impacts better than ordered metamaterials, according to MIT News. They also cushioned fragile objects embedded inside them. The authors additionally derived an analytical model linking the total stored energy to ligament length, thickness and degree. [1]

According to the researchers, the procedure can be used to design impact-absorbing materials and acoustic lenses, whose microstructure focuses sound or vibrations. "This is a completely new way of thinking for metamaterials," said study author Carlos Portela, associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT.

## Sources

1. [doi.org](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-11191-2)
2. [MIT News](https://news.mit.edu/2026/engineers-design-stronger-resilient-nature-inspired-metamaterials-1111)

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Source: RealTech, realtech.media — https://realtech.media/news/rt-f6d59d3d0a60ffb30c8df00d_mit_and_northeastern/