Related papers: Slit-snapping and multistability in buckled beams …

We uncover how nonlinearities dramatically alter the buckling of elastic beams. First, we show experimentally that sufficiently wide ordinary elastic beams and specifically designed metabeams ---beams made from a mechanical metamaterial---…

We investigate the mechanics of bistable, hard-magnetic, elastic beams, combining experiments, finite element modeling (FEM), and a reduced-order theory. The beam is made of a hard magneto-rheological elastomer, comprising two segments with…

Variable stiffness is a key capability in biological and robotic systems, enabling adaptive interaction across tasks and environments. Mechanical metamaterials offer an alternative to conventional mechatronic solutions by encoding stiffness…

Mechanical metamaterials made of flexible building blocks can exhibit a plethora of extreme mechanical responses, such as negative elastic constants, shape-changes, programmability and memory. To date, dissipation has largely remained…

This work examines the snap-through behavior of a clamped-clamped elastica made from initially flat, thin, cut sheets under increasing vertical concentrated load acting at midspan. A two-parameter, symmetric pattern is introduced to conduct…

We present a monolithic mechanical metamaterial comprising a periodic arrangement of snapping units with tunable tensile behavior. Under tension, the metamaterial undergoes a large extension caused by sequential snap-through instabilities,…

Material nonlinearities such as hyperelasticity, viscoelasticity, and plasticity have recently emerged as design paradigms for metamaterials based on buckling. These metamaterials exhibit properties such as shape morphing, transition waves,…

Bistability and snap-through instabilities are central to various mechanisms in nature and engineering, enabling rapid movement and large shape changes with minimal energy input. These phenomena are easily demonstrated by bending a piece of…

A structural element is designed and investigated, forming the basis for the development of an elastic multistable metamaterial. The leitmotif of the structural design is the implementation of a strut characterized by a bifurcation…

The hysteretic snapping under lateral forcing of a compressed, buckled beam is fundamental for many devices and mechanical metamaterials. For a single-tip lateral pusher, an important limitation is that snapping requires the pusher to cross…

A thin flat rectangular plate supported on its edges and subjected to in-plane loading exhibits stable post-buckling behaviour. However, the introduction of a nonlinear (softening) elastic foundation may cause the response to become…

When a pair of parallel buckling beams of unequal width make lateral contact under increasing compression, eventually either the thin or the thick beam will snap, leading to collective motion of the beam pair. Using experiments and FEM…

All solids yield under sufficiently high mechanical loads. Below yield, the mechanical responses of all disordered solids are nearly alike, but above yield every different disordered solid responds in its own way. Brittle systems can…

Snap-fits are versatile mechanical designs in industrial products, which enable the repeated assembling and disassembling of two solid parts. This important property is attributed to a fine balance between geometry, friction, and bending…

Curved elastic shells can be fabricated through molding or by harnessing residual stresses. These shells often exhibit snap-through behavior and multistability when loaded. We present a unique way of fabricating curved elastic shells that…

As we enter the age of designer matter - where objects can morph and change shape on command - what tools do we need to create shape-shifting structures? At the heart of an elastic deformation is the combination of dilation and distortion,…

Machine-matter, of which mechanical metamaterials and meta-devices are important sub-categories, is emerging as a major paradigm for designing advanced functional materials. Various exciting applications of these concepts have been recently…

Buckling at the micro and nanoscale generates distant bistable states which can be beneficial for sensing, shape-reconfiguration and mechanical computation applications. Although different approaches have been developed to access buckling…

Here, the general design and properties of new multiple network elastomers with an exceptional combination of stiffness, toughness, and elasticity are reported. In this paper, it is reported in more detail how the increase in strain at…

A growing or compressed thin elastic sheet adhered to a rigid substrate can exhibit a buckling instability, forming an inward hump. Our study shows that the strip morphology depends on the delicate balance between the compression energy and…