Non-symmetric deformation of lattices under quasi-static uniaxial compression

•Non-symmetric deformation mechanisms are proposed for four kinds of lattices under quasi-static uniaxial compression.•Non-symmetric deformation does not affect the average stress and yield strength for bending-dominated lattice.•For membrane-dominated lattices under non-symmetric deformation, the yield strength and average stress is much lower than symmetric case.•The post yielding property is not stable for membrane-dominated structures.

The response of planar lattices is usually investigated based on symmetric deformation modes, although non-symmetric deformations are often observed in experiments and numerical simulations. In this work, the influence of this non-symmetric deformation mechanism on the quasi-static uniaxial compression behavior of four kinds of lattices is investigated through theoretical analyses.For bending-dominated lattices, such as hexagonal and rhombus lattices, this non-symmetric deformation mechanism does not affect the average stress which is an indicator of energy absorption capacity of honeycomb materials. But for the membrane-dominated lattices, i.e., the square and Kagome lattices, the average stress of non-symmetric deformations is obviously lower than that of symmetric deformation modes, indicating that the energy absorption capability of membrane-dominated lattices with non-symmetric deformation modes are much lower than those with symmetric deformation modes.