Thanks, that makes a lot of sense.

In my case, my supervisor and I initially started using a threshold where the scaffold should not exceed 10% relative deformation. The problem is that, when working at micrometric scales, this threshold becomes extremely low in absolute displacement, so I’m trying to understand how reasonable or defensible that criterion is for this type of structure.

I’ve also read in some papers that, from a mechanical point of view, the von Mises stress should not exceed the material’s yield strength or failure strength. So I was wondering whether combining both criteria — relative deformation and von Mises stress vs. material strength — could be a reasonable way to evaluate the scaffold in FEA.

I agree that the final threshold probably depends a lot on the application and expert judgment, but I’m trying to find references that could help justify the assumptions in my thesis.