Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 113, Issue 35, Pages 9722-9727Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1604838113
Keywords
soft; mechanical signal; stable propagation; instability
Categories
Funding
- Harvard Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) [DMR-1420570]
- National Science Foundation (NSF) [CMMI-1149456]
- NSF [CMMI-1200319]
- NSF through CAREER Award [CMMI-1254424]
- Div Of Civil, Mechanical, & Manufact Inn
- Directorate For Engineering [1254424] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Soft structures with rationally designed architectures capable of large, nonlinear deformation present opportunities for unprecedented, highly tunable devices and machines. However, the highly dissipative nature of soft materials intrinsically limits or prevents certain functions, such as the propagation of mechanical signals. Here we present an architected soft system composed of elastomeric bistable beam elements connected by elastomeric linear springs. The dissipative nature of the polymer readily damps linear waves, preventing propagation of any mechanical signal beyond a short distance, as expected. However, the unique architecture of the system enables propagation of stable, nonlinear solitary transition waves with constant, controllable velocity and pulse geometry over arbitrary distances. Because the high damping of the material removes all other linear, small-amplitude excitations, the desired pulse propagates with high fidelity and controllability. This phenomenon can be used to control signals, as demonstrated by the design of soft mechanical diodes and logic gates.
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