Propagation of solitary waves in origami-inspired metamaterials

Abstract

We propose a design strategy for creating origami-like mechanical metamaterials with diverse non-linear mechanical properties and capable of remote actuation. The proposed triangulated cylindrical origami (TCO)-inspired metamaterials enable the highly desirable strain-softening/hardening and snap-through behaviors via a multi-material and highly deformable hinge design. Moreover, we couple these novel non-linear mechanical properties of the TCO origami-inspired metamaterials with the transformative ability of hard-magnetic active materials, allowing for untethered shape- and property-actuation in the developed metamaterials. We develop a mathematical modeling framework for the proposed TCO origami-inspired metamaterials, building on approximating the highly deformable hinges as a combination of longitudinal and rotational springs. We validate the accuracy of the developed mathematical modeling approach by comparing the analytically predicted compressive response of a unit cell structure with the corresponding numerical and experimental results. Using the developed mathematical modeling framework, we investigate the magnetic field-induced large deformation and superimposed solitary wave propagation in the TCO origami-inspired metamaterial system. We show that the proposed metamaterial allows us to tune the key characteristics of the enabled non-linear solitary waves, including their characteristic width and amplitude. The proposed design strategy for readily manufacturable origami-inspired metamaterial systems paves a novel path for practical engineering applications. Our studies also underscore the potential of magneto-mechanical interaction in the design of reconfigurable metamaterial systems with superior non-linear mechanical and elastic wave properties.