Scaling laws for nanoporous metals under uniaxial loading

Significant attention in the literature is directed toward the development of scaling relations that relate the properties of nanoporous metals to bulk materials in order to help in their design. Although nanoporous gold has been under extensive study to develop the proper scaling relations, the literature still lacks a specific model that predicts its properties based on a combination of surface parameters, ligament size, and relative density. This work is part of the ongoing trials to introduce such scaling relations. Therefore, utilizing literature-reported results, the authors are proposing scaling relations that account for the coupling effect of surface area to solid volume ratio, ligament size, and relative density to predict the elastic modulus, yield stress, and ultimate stress under uniaxial loading. Moreover, a comparison between the proposed model and existing scaling laws in the literature is presented. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]