Mechanical activity and odd elasticity of passive, 2D chiral metamaterials

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to create active, odd elastic 2D chiral metamaterials from passive elements, revealing their ability to perform mechanical work and exhibit non-reciprocal behavior without internal energy sources.

Contribution

It develops continuum field equations for 2D chiral metamaterials from a discrete mechanics perspective, linking structure to odd elasticity and mechanical activity.

Findings

Chiral metamaterials can gain energy during quasistatic deformation cycles.

The study provides a design principle for active, non-reciprocal mechanical metamaterials.

Odd elasticity is characterized and related to chiral structure properties.

Abstract

We demonstrate a general route to making active, odd elastic solids from passive chiral elements that can act as sources of mechanical work by violating static equilibrium without internal sources of energy or momentum. We further demonstrate that by starting from a discrete, Newtonian mechanics viewpoint of the chiral unit cell, we can develop the continuum field equations for isotropic 2D chiral metamaterials that reveal odd elasticity, while elucidating the structure-property relationships underpinning the chiral, elastic moduli that enable the mechanical activity of the chiral metamaterials. By demonstrating the energy gain of chiral metamaterials as they undergo quasistatic deformation cycles, we show a new route to designing active, non-reciprocal mechanical metamaterials that can operate at zero frequency.