Global rotation of mechanical metamaterials induced by their internal deformation

K K Dudek,R Gatt,J N Grima,M R Dudek,D Attard,L Mizzi

doi:10.1063/1.4998398

Abstract

In this work, we propose the concept that a device based on mechanical metamaterials can be used to induce and control its own rotational motion as a result of internal deformations due to the conversion of translational degrees of freedom into rotational ones. The application of a linear force on the structural units of the system may be fine-tuned in order to obtain a desired type of rotation. In particular, we show, how it is possible to maximise the extent of rotation of the system through the alteration of the geometry of the system. We also show how a device based on this concept can be connected to an external body in order to rotate it which result may potentially prove to be very important in the case of applications such as telescopes employed in space.

Highlights

Mechanical metamaterials are systems whose anomalous mechanical properties are derived primarily from their geometry rather than material composition.[1,2] This revolutionary class of functional materials has attracted a great deal of interest in recent years due to the fact that mechanical metamaterials may be tailor-made to exhibit counter-intuitive properties such as a negative Poisson’s ratio,[3,4,5,6,7] negative compressibility,[8,9] negative stiffness[10,11] and negative thermal expansion,[12,13] all of which are rarely found in natural or conventional everyday materials
In this work, we present a proof of concept of how mechanical metamaterials may be used to induce a rotation of the structure as result of internal deformations resulting from the application of the uniaxial force
In this paper, a proof of concept of how uniaxial loading of mechanical metamaterials may be used to induce a global rotation of the whole system was presented

Summary

Introduction

Mechanical metamaterials are systems whose anomalous mechanical properties are derived primarily from their geometry rather than material composition.[1,2] This revolutionary class of functional materials has attracted a great deal of interest in recent years due to the fact that mechanical metamaterials may be tailor-made to exhibit counter-intuitive properties such as a negative Poisson’s ratio,[3,4,5,6,7] negative compressibility,[8,9] negative stiffness[10,11] and negative thermal expansion,[12,13] all of which are rarely found in natural or conventional everyday materials. In this work, we present a proof of concept of how mechanical metamaterials may be used to induce a rotation of the structure as result of internal deformations resulting from the application of the uniaxial force.

Results

Conclusion