A pseudo-dynamic paradigm for reprogramming domain-wall-lattices in architected solids
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Published on: January 19, 2016
Yafei Zhang1,2, Yuan Zhou1,3, Zhixuan Wen1,4
1Department of Engineering Mechanics, CNMM and AML, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
From Renaissance drapery to tissue morphogenesis, pattern formation exemplifies how geometry and constraints generate complex structures. In soft and architected matter, motifs such as creases, kinks, and domain walls function as order-parameter textures mediating structural transitions. Yet deterministic and reprogrammable control of such patterns remains a central challenge: conventional geometry-based strategies hardwire functionality into structure, leaving deformation modes defect-sensitive and difficult to reconfigure. Here we introduce a pseudo-dynamic mapping that interprets static deformation fields as trajectories of fictitious particles evolving in engineered energy landscapes. This paradigm provides a forward design strategy in which reshaping potential symmetry and bifurcation structure prescribes diverse reprogrammable solitonic domain-wall-lattices in a single, defect-free metamaterial solely under uniform loading. We demonstrate initiation, modulation, inversion, melting, and annihilation of these patterns, governed by a tunable bifurcation landscape. Predictions are validated through simulation and experiment, culminating in a mechanical display that encodes digital information via domain-wall-bits. This approach bridges nonlinear field theory with practical pattern reprogramming, offering a versatile route for programmable design in architected and adaptive materials.
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