Mechanical property tuning and prediction methods of Waterbomb cellular metamaterials

Abstract

Origami cellular metamaterials have enormous potential for applications in engineering fields such as energy absorption. However, the current studies lack relevant methods for tuning and predicting mechanical properties. In this paper, we propose a novel mechanical property tuning method by connecting other materials between adjacent origami units. Based on the ori-kirigami cell of a Waterbomb cellular metamaterial, we investigate the effects of the design parameters of the connecting materials on the initial peak force, specific energy absorption (SEA), and negative stiffness properties through quasi-static compression tests and numerical simulations. Moreover, we propose structural scaling laws to predict the mechanical properties of this ori-kirigami cell based on dimensional analysis. The results show that the connecting materials can influence the SEA and the initial peak force. This tuning method can also influence the negative stiffness characteristics of the ori-kirigami cell. On the other hand, the initial peak force and energy absorption predicted by the scaling laws agree well with the simulation results, verifying the correctness of the similarity laws. This work makes origami cellular metamaterials with stronger mechanical adaptability, making them suitable for various engineering fields such as energy absorption and protection.