Zigzag-base folded sheet cellular mechanical metamaterials

The Japanese art of turning flat sheets into three dimensional intricate structures, origami, has inspired design of mechanical metamaterials. Mechanical metamaterials are artificially engineered materials with uncommon properties. Miura-ori is a remarkable origami folding pattern with metamaterial properties and a wide range of applications. In this study, by dislocating the zigzag strips of a Miura-ori pattern along the joining ridges, we create a class of one-degree of freedom (DOF) cellular mechanical metamaterials. The unit cell of the patterns comprises two zigzag strips surrounding a hole with a parallelogram shape. We show that dislocating zigzag strips of the Miura-ori along the joining ridges preserves and/or tunes the outstanding properties of the Miura-ori. The introduced materials are lighter than their corresponding Miura-ori sheets due to the presence of holes in the patterns. Moreover, they are amenable to similar modifications available for Miura-ori which make them appropriate for a wide range of applications across the length scales.

Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide