Deformation-induced topological transitions in mechanical metamaterials and their application to tunable non-linear stiffening

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new class of mechanical metamaterials that undergo deformation-induced topological transitions, enabling tunable non-linear stiffening and mimicking biological tissue mechanics.

Contribution

It presents a universal principle for deformation-induced topological transitions in metamaterials, demonstrating their application across various deformation modes.

Findings

Large non-linear stiffening effects achieved through soft mode frustration

Universal deformation-induced topological transition principle demonstrated

Potential for designing biomimetic materials with tunable elasticity

Abstract

Mechanical metamaterials are periodic lattice structures with complex unit cell architectures that can achieve extraordinary mechanical properties beyond the capability of bulk materials. A new class of metamaterials is proposed, whose mechanical properties rely on deformation-induced transitions in nodal-topology by formation of internal self-contact. The universal nature of the principle presented, is demonstrated for tension, compression, shear and torsion. In particular, it is shown that by frustration of soft deformation modes, large highly non-linear stiffening effects can be generated. Tunable non-linear elasticity can be exploited to design materials mimicking the complex mechanical response of biological tissue.