Self-Foldable Origami-Architected Metamaterials

Introduction

Technological progress and increasingly environmental-related problems call for new cutting-edge design strategies to improve materials’ functionalities. The S-FOAM's challenge is to breakthrough metamaterial design by implanting origami/kirigami capabilities within architected cellular structures at different scales, thus bringing metamaterials to unprecedented mechanical performance.

Metamaterial Capabilities

The resulting metamaterials will combine:

• Multistability
• Anisotropy
• Geometrical frustration
• Control of localized deformation
• Ellipticity loss

These features will achieve a new capability: self-foldability and shape-morphing induced by external stimuli.

Self-Guided Crease Formation

Unlike what happens in currently available origami, the location of the creases is not a priori imposed, but self-guided by ellipticity loss. This occurs in the homogenized material, equivalent to the kirigami/origami, and is self-controlled by embedding within the microstructure topological point and line defects.

This introduces an unexplored field of research in which a material element will become able to mechanically react to actions from the surroundings through a direct change in its shape. This capability allows the material to reach a configuration that optimizes its stiffness, strength, toughness, and, in a word, its environmental resilience.

Research Development

The research project S-FOAM will develop modeling based on the mechanics of solids and structures, numerical simulations, and experimental tools for the optimal design of origami/kirigami-lattice metamaterials.

Applications

Applications are envisaged in:

1. Soft robotics, where grippers grasp and manipulate objects without damaging them.
2. Wearable devices, where materials gently adapt to humans’ movements.
3. Adaptive medical devices, leveraging the design principle provided by S-FOAM.
4. Maximizing solar power intake through flexible PVs integrated into metamaterials capable of changing shape depending on the sun's motion.