Origami and materials science

TL;DR

This survey explores how origami principles inform materials science, linking folding rules to microstructure analysis and suggesting new pathways for designing advanced materials using geometric and group theory concepts.

Contribution

It highlights the analogies between origami and material microstructures at multiple scales, proposing a novel framework for material design based on geometric and symmetry principles.

Findings

Origami rules relate to microstructure analysis in materials.

Group theory provides a framework for designing novel materials.

Origami concepts connect to crystal and nanostructure structures.

Abstract

Origami, the ancient art of folding thin sheets, has attracted increasing attention for its practical value in diverse fields: architectural design, therapeutics, deployable space structures, medical stent design, antenna design and robotics. In this survey article we highlight its suggestive value for the design of materials. At continuum level the rules for constructing origami have direct analogs in the analysis of the microstructure of materials. At atomistic level the structure of crystals, nanostructures, viruses and quasicrystals all link to simplified methods of constructing origami. Underlying these linkages are basic physical scaling laws, the role of isometries, and the simplifying role of group theory. Non-discrete isometry groups suggest an unexpected framework for the possible design of novel materials.