Origami-based cellular mechanical metamaterials with tunable Poisson's ratio: Construction and analysis

Abstract

Rigid origami provides great theoretical potentials for designing metamaterials with programmable mechanical properties. In this paper, a novel family of cellular mechanical metamaterials is developed based on rigid-foldable square-twist origami. Kinematics and rigid-foldability of the four types of square-twist origami patterns are investigated. A square-twist origami, which has specific kinematic characteristics, is selected to construct novel metamaterial cells in the x-y plane. During deployment, the tunable Poisson's ratios of proposed metamaterial cells are guaranteed by their rigid-foldability and no self-intersection. Two combination schemes, literally linear and plane-symmetrical combination, are proposed to stack the metamaterial cells in the z-direction for building cellular metamaterials. Influences of geometries, number of layers, assemble mode, and combination scheme on the in-plane and out-plane Poisson's ratios of the square-twist origami are then evaluated. The Poisson's ratios of the constructed mechanical metamaterials are further analyzed. Following the mapping relationship between design factors and Poisson's ratio, cellular mechanical metamaterials with tunable Poisson's ratios could be designed for engineering applications.