Sen Lin, Xie YM, Li Q, Huang X, Zhou S. A Kirigami Approach to Forming a Synthetic Buckliball.
Sci Rep 2016;
6:33016. [PMID:
27609542 PMCID:
PMC5017128 DOI:
10.1038/srep33016]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2016] [Accepted: 08/18/2016] [Indexed: 02/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The shape transformation of some biological systems inspires scientists to create sophisticated structures at the nano- and macro- scales. However, to be useful in engineering, the mechanics of governing such a spontaneous, parallel and large deformation must be well understood. In this study, a kirigami approach is used to fold a bilayer planar sheet featuring a specific pattern into a buckliball under a certain thermal stimulus. Importantly, this prescribed spherical object can retract into a much smaller sphere due to constructive buckling caused by radially inward displacement. By minimizing the potential strain energy, we obtain a critical temperature, below which the patterned sheet exhibits identical principal curvatures everywhere in the self-folding procedure and above which buckling occurs. The applicability of the theoretical analysis to the self-folding of sheets with a diversity of patterns is verified by the finite element method.
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