Soft mechanical metamaterials with transformable topology protected by stress caching

TL;DR

This paper presents a shape memory polymer-based transformable topological mechanical metamaterial that can reversibly switch topological phases, demonstrating robust edge behaviors and a novel stress caching effect that preserves topological responses.

Contribution

It introduces a new shape memory polymer metamaterial capable of reversible topological phase transitions via a kinematic strategy, with enhanced stability and stress management features.

Findings

Robust topological edge behaviors resistant to structural defects.

Reversible topological phase switching via mechanical inputs.

Stress caching effect preserves topological response after transformations.

Abstract

Maxwell lattice metamaterials possess a rich phase space with distinct topological states featuring mechanically polarized edge behaviors and strongly asymmetric acoustic responses. Until now, demonstrations of non-trivial topological behaviors from Maxwell lattices have been limited to either monoliths with locked configurations or reconfigurable mechanical linkages. This work introduces a transformable topological mechanical metamaterial (TTMM) made from a shape memory polymer and based on a generalized kagome lattice. It is capable of reversibly exploring topologically distinct phases of the non-trivial phase space via a kinematic strategy that converts sparse mechanical inputs at free edge pairs into a biaxial, global transformation that switches its topological state. Thanks to the shape memory effect, all configurations are stable even in the absence of confinement or a continuous mechanical input. Topologically-protected mechanical behaviors, while robust against structural (with broken hinges) or conformational defects (up to ~55% mis-rotations), are shown to be vulnerable to the adverse effects of stored elastic energy from prior transformations (up to a ~70% reduction in edge stiffness ratios, depending on hinge width). Interestingly, we show that shape memory polymer's intrinsic phase transitions that modulate chain mobility can effectively shield a dynamic metamaterial's topological response (with a 100% recovery) from its own kinematic stress history, an effect we refer to as "stress caching".