Adaptable nonlinear bimode metamaterials using rigid bars, pivots, and actuators

A large family of periodic planar non-linear bimode metamaterials are constructed from rigid bars and pivots. They are affine materials in the sense that their macroscopic deformations are only affine deformations: at large distances any deformation must be close to an affine deformation. Bimode means that the paths of all possible deformations of Bravais lattices that preserve the periodicity of the lattice lie on a two-dimensional surface in the three-dimensional space of invariants describing the deformation (excluding translations and rotations). By adding two actuators inside a single microscopic cell one can control the macroscopic deformation, which may be useful for the design of adaptive structures. The design of adaptable nonlinear affine trimode metamaterials (for which the macroscopic deformations lie within a three-dimensional region in the space of invariants) is discussed, although their realization remains an open problem. Examples are given of non-affine unimode and non-affine bimode materials. In these materials the deformation can vary from cell to cell in such a way that the macroscopic deformation is non-affine. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.