Isotropic Energy-Absorbing Metamaterial with Tensegrity-Inspired Architecture and Auxetic Behavior

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Mechanical Engineering
• Structural Engineering

Background:

• Mechanical metamaterials offer potential for energy absorption.
• Negative Poisson's ratio (NPR) metamaterials exhibit auxetic behavior but have limited energy absorption.
• Traditional energy absorbers lack durability, self-recovery, and dynamic adjustability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel metamaterial combining NPR characteristics with tensegrity structures.
• To overcome limitations of traditional energy-absorbing materials.
• To create intelligent protective materials with tunable energy absorption and enhanced durability.

Main Methods:

• Reconfiguring tensegrity modules into programmable units using spring combinations.
• Implementing directional deformation constraints via rigid sliding rod and linear slider systems.
• Integrating auxetic mechanisms with tensegrity's programmable features.

Main Results:

• Precise control of global auxetic response and stiffness achieved through spring stiffness adjustment.
• Elastic element combination demonstrated self-recovery and fatigue resistance (0.40% energy absorption variation after 10,000 cycles).
• Seven-cell and tetrahedral configurations achieved peak force reductions of ≈75.68% and ≈91.18% under impact, respectively.

Conclusions:

• The novel metamaterial integrates tensegrity structures with NPR effects, overcoming single-material limitations.
• This research establishes a new paradigm for intelligent protective materials.
• The developed metamaterial offers tunable energy absorption and enhanced durability.