Davood Mousanezhad

Hierarchical honeycomb auxetic metamaterials

Most conventional materials expand in transverse directions when they are compressed uniaxially resulting in the familiar positive Poisson’s ratio. Here we develop a new class of two dimensional (2D) metamaterials with negative Poisson’s ratio that contract in transverse directions under uniaxial compressive loads leading to auxeticity. This is achieved through mechanical instabilities (i.e., buckling) introduced by structural hierarchy and retained over a wide range of applied compression. This unusual behavior is demonstrated experimentally and analyzed computationally. The work provides new insights into the role of structural organization and hierarchy in designing 2D auxetic metamaterials, and new opportunities for developing energy absorbing materials, tunable membrane filters, and acoustic dampeners.

Buckling of regular, chiral and hierarchical honeycombs under a general macroscopic stress state.

An approach to obtain analytical closed-form expressions for the macroscopic ‘buckling strength’ of various two-dimensional cellular structures is presented. The method is based on classical beam-column end-moment behaviour expressed in a matrix form. It is applied to sample honeycombs with square, triangular and hexagonal unit cells to determine their buckling strength under a general macroscopic in-plane stress state. The results were verified using finite-element Eigenvalue analysis.

Origami-based cellular metamaterial with auxetic, bistable, and self-locking properties

We present a novel cellular metamaterial constructed from Origami building blocks based on Miura-ori fold. The proposed cellular metamaterial exhibits unusual properties some of which stemming from the inherent properties of its Origami building blocks, and others manifesting due to its unique geometrical construction and architecture. These properties include foldability with two fully-folded configurations, auxeticity (i.e., negative Poisson’s ratio), bistability, and self-locking of Origami building blocks to construct load-bearing cellular metamaterials. The kinematics and force response of the cellular metamaterial during folding were studied to investigate the underlying mechanisms resulting in its unique properties using analytical modeling and experiments.

Origami-based Building Blocks for Modular Construction of Foldable Structures

Origami, widely known as the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, has recently inspired a new paradigm of design for mechanical metamaterials and deployable structural systems. However, lack of rationalized design guidelines and scalable manufacturing methods has hindered their applications. To address this limitation, we present analytical methods for designing origami-based closed-loop units with inherent foldability, and for predicting their folding response (e.g., folding force, bistability, and area and volume change by folding). These units can be employed as building blocks for application-driven design and modular construction of foldable structures with desired performance and manufacturing scalability.

Programmable elastic metamaterials

We introduce a novel concept for the design of programmable-elasticity metamaterials; materials whose elastic properties can be modified instantaneously and reversibly on demand. Real-time tunable linear and nonlinear elastic moduli are obtained in lattice materials by adjustment of strut connectivity via actuation of embedded electromagnetic locks. The Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio of prototype 2D materials are varied instantaneously by more than 2 orders of magnitude and between 0.15 and 0.9, respectively. The buckling strength of the structure is altered by an order of magnitude between two bifurcation states associated with a centrosymmetric and an anti-chiral buckling pattern.

Thermal conductivity of biomimetic leaf composite

The venous morphology of a typical plant leaf affects its mechanical and thermal properties. Such a material could be considered as a fiber reinforced composite structure where the veins and the rest of the leaf are considered as two materials having highly contrast mechanical and thermal properties. The variegated venations found in nature is idealized into three principal fibers—the central mid-fiber corresponding to the mid-rib, straight parallel secondary fibers attached to the mid-fiber representing the secondary veins, and then another set of parallel fibers emanating from the secondary fibers mimicking the tertiary veins of a typical leaf. This paper addresses the in-plane thermal conductivity of such a composite by considering such a venous fiber morphology embedded in a matrix material. We have considered two cases, fibers having either higher or lower conductivity respect to the matrix. The tertiary fibers do not interconnect the secondary fibers in our present study. We carry out finite element based computational investigation of the thermal conductivity of these composites under uniaxial thermal gradients and study the effect of different fiber architectures. To this end, we use two broad types of architectures both having similar central main fiber but differing in either having only secondary fibers or additional tertiary fibers. The fiber and matrix volume fractions are kept constant and a comparative parametric study is carried out by varying the inclination of the secondary fibers. We find the heat conductivity in the direction of the main fiber (Y direction) increases significantly as the fiber angle of the secondary increases. Furthermore, for composite with metal fibers, the conductivity in the Y direction is further enhanced when composite is manufactured by having secondary fibers forming a closed cell structure. However, for composite with ceramic fibers, the conductivity of the composite in the Y direction is little affected by having secondary fibers closed. An opposite behavior is observed when considering conductivity of the composite in the X direction. The conductivity of the composite in the X direction is reduced with increase in the angle of the secondary fibers. Higher conductivity in the X direction is achieved for composite with no closed cells for composites with metal fibers. The results also indicate that for composites with the constant fiber volume fraction, morphology of tertiary fibers may not significantly alter material conductivities. In conclusion, introducing a leaf-mimicking topology in fiber architecture can provide significant additional degrees of tunability in design of these composite structures.

Displacement and Stress Fields in a Functionally Graded Fiber-Reinforced Rotating Disk With Nonuniform Thickness and Variable Angular Velocity

Displacement and stress fields in a functionally graded fiber-reinforced rotating disks with nonuniform thickness and variable angular velocity

Biomimetic composites inspired by venous leaf

A typical plant leaf can be idealized as a composite having three principal fibers: the central mid-fiber corresponding to the mid-rib, straight parallel secondary fibers attached to the mid-fiber representing the secondary veins, and then another set of parallel fibers emanating from the secondary fibers mimicking the tertiary fibers embedded in a matrix material. This paper introduces a biomimetic composite design inspired by the morphology of venous leafs and investigates the effects of venation morphologies on the in-plane mechanical properties of the biomimetic composites using finite element method. The mechanical properties such as Young’s moduli, Poisson’s ratio, and yield stress under uniaxial loading of the resultant composite structures was studied and the effect of different fiber architectures on these properties was investigated. To this end, two broad types of architectures were used both having similar central main fiber but differing in either having only secondary fibers or additional tertiary fibers. The fiber and matrix volume fractions were kept constant and a comparative parametric study was carried out by varying the inclination of the secondary fibers. The results show that the elastic modulus of composite in the direction of main fiber increases linearly with increasing the angle of the secondary fibers. Furthermore, the elastic modulus is enhanced if the secondary fibers are closed, which mimics composites with closed cellular fibers. In contrast, the elastic modulus of composites normal to the main fiber (x direction) exponentially decreases with the increase of the angle of the secondary fibers and it is little affected by having secondary fibers closed. Similar results were obtained for the yield stress of the composites. The results also indicate that Poisson’s ratio linearly increases with the secondary fiber angle. The results also show that for a constant fiber volume fraction, addition of various tertiary fibers may not significantly enhance the mechanical properties of the composites. The mechanical properties of the composites are mainly dominated by the secondary fibers. Finally, a simple model was proposed to predict these behaviors.