Energy dissipation in multistable auxetic mechanical metamaterials

Abstract

Multistable mechanical metamaterials are periodic structures whose unit cells show bistable configurations. The snap-through behavior of the unit cell enhances the energy dissipation of the metamaterials. The materials are reusable and can dissipate energy multiple times since the deformation is within the elastic region. This paper presents two types of two-dimensional auxetic metamaterials: the shuriken-shaped motif with four axes of symmetry and the triangle motif with six axes of symmetry. The cylindrical and three-dimensional (3D) configurations are designed with the geometric topology method. We carry out experiments with 3D printed samples, finite element analysis (FEA), and theoretical investigation to reveal the various mechanisms of energy dissipation. The results demonstrate that the planar metamaterials exhibit different energy dissipation along various loading directions. Each type of metamaterial exhibits discrepant force-displacement characteristics. The triangle motif performs better than the shuriken-shaped motif in terms of energy dissipation along some loading directions. The proposed auxetic metamaterials perform better than the conventional multistable structures with zero Poisson’s ratio. Energy dissipation and auxetic behavior of the typically cylindrical and 3D metamaterials are verified numerically and experimentally.