Size-Dependent Properties of Miura-ori Tessellations

TL;DR

This study explores how the size of Miura-ori origami tessellations affects their mechanical properties, revealing size-dependent transitions in Poisson's ratio and locking behavior, with implications for tunable origami metamaterials.

Contribution

It demonstrates the size-dependent transition of Poisson's ratio and locking behavior in Miura-ori tessellations, extending analysis to three-dimensional origami structures.

Findings

Large tessellations exhibit negative in-plane Poisson's ratio.

Small tessellations show a transition point with zero Poisson's ratio.

Tessellation size controls the onset and direction of kinematic locking.

Abstract

We investigate the size-dependent behavior of Miura-ori-based origami tessellations by changing the number of origami unit cells. For large tessellations, the Miura-ori sheet generally exhibits a negative in-plane Poisson's ratio, whereas if the size of the Miura-ori tessellations becomes small, the transition between positive and negative Poisson's ratio emerges in the middle of the folding process. Here, we show that such a transitioning point, i.e., zero Poisson's ratio, yields a kinematic locking state. We also experimentally demonstrate the tunable locking behavior altered by tessellation sizes. Extending the analysis to three-dimensional origami tessellations, we find that the direction of kinematic locking changes depending on the tessellation size. Varying tessellation size thus enables control over both the onset and the direction of locking in origami metamaterials.