Programmable stiffness and shape modulation in origami materials: Emergence of a distant actuation feature

Abstract

This paper develops an origami based mechanical metamaterial with programmable deformationdependent stiffness and shape modulation, leading to the realization of a distant actuation feature.Through computational and experimental analyses, we have uncovered that a waterbomb based tubular metamaterial can undergo mixed mode of deformations involving both rigid origami motion and structural deformation. Besides the capability of achieving a near-zero stiffness, a contact phase is identified that initiates a substantial increase in the stiffness with programmable features during deformation of the metamaterial. Initiation of the contact phase as a function of the applied global load can be designed based on the microstructural geometry of the waterbomb bases and their assembly. The tubular metamaterial can exhibit a unique deformation dependent spatially varying mixed mode Poisson's ratio, which is achievable from a uniform initial configuration of the metamaterial. The spatial profile of the metamaterial can be modulated as a function of the applied far-field global force, and the configuration and assembly of the waterbomb bases. This creates a new possibility of developing a distant actuation feature in the metamaterial enabling us to achieve controlled local actuation through the application of a single far-field force. The distant actuation feature eliminates the need of installing embedded complex network of sensors, actuators and controllers in the material. The fundamental programmable features of the origami metamaterial unravelled in this paper can find wide range of applications in soft robotics, aerospace, biomedical devices and various other advanced physical systems.

Probing the Effective Young's Modulus of ‘Magic Angle’ Inspired Multi‐Functional Twisted Nano‐Heterostructures

“…The attentiveness of heterostructures is expected to dramatically expand in the foreseeable future with the recent disruptive development of having twist in the 2D material layers. This essentially brings about the possibility of introducing a new dimension of multi‐functional nano‐scale metamaterial [ 57–60 ] development with effectively unlimited design space. Although there is a significant amount of scientific literature on the electronic, thermal, optical, and chemical properties, understanding of the mechanical properties of heterostructures are still fairly limited.…”

Freeform quad-based kirigami

“…For the folding-only case, which is not the subject of the present paper, we only mention a few examples: Miura-ori type patterns on flat sheets and their generalizations can be folded to assume certain curved forms [Dudte et al 2016;Tachi 2009]. "Waterbomb" folding patterns can be used to construct actuated tube-like structures [Mukhopadhyay et al 2020]. It is not surprising that dispensing with cutting and allowing only folding makes the backward problem highly constrained.…”

Analysis of Mechanical Behaviors of Waterbomb Thin-Shell Structures Under Quasi-Static Load

“…Feng et al [9] discovered the twist motion of tubular mechanical metamaterials based on waterbomb origami and analyzed the stiffness changes with the continuous twist motion. Ma et al [10] developed a waterbomb tubular mechanical metamaterial with programmable deformation-related stiffness and shape modulation functions. Gillman et al [11] studied the folding mode of the waterbomb structure and explored how the interaction between the stretching energy and the folding ability affect the design of a bistable structure.…”