Some materials scientist must have already done their thesis on this problem: optimally span two spatially separate beams with a homogeneous material transmitt

Some materials scientist must have already done their thesis on this problem: optimally span two spatially separate beams with a homogeneous material transmitting some impedance designated force between them and subjected to increasing mass reduction. Given a ceramic material (strong in compression) we'll assume we end up with some sort of bone matrix [1]; a bit like we see here for this 3d printed frame. But given metals what do we observe? [1] http://goo.gl/SdtMoc http://goo.gl/SdtMoc