Fig. 7: Comparison of anisotropic properties of measured and computer-generated nanosponge geometries.

a–c Plot of section planes through different sponges; a reference sponge S_f,ref; b simulated anisotropic sponge S_f,A; c simulated isotropic sponge S_f,2; d Plot of the areal density as a function of the slice position along the Z-axis for the different types of sponges. The areal density is defined as the total area of all ligaments divided by the area of the convex hull for the given slice. It is evident that both S_f,ref and S_f,A are significantly thicker at the bottom compared to S_f,2. e, f View from the top and bottom of the different sponges; e reference sponge S_f,ref; f anisotropic sponge S_f,A; g isotropic sponge S_f,2.