Jigsaw-Inspired Modular Architected Materials with Tailorable Stiffness and Programmable Reconfiguration for Adaptive Flow Regulations

The emergence of reconfigurable materials provides new avenues to design functional devices and structures at various length scales, but their post-fabricated geometries usually remain unchangeable, showing low reconfigurability and poor adaptability toward multiple functionalities. Herein, a new class of modular architected materials is introduced. Inspired by the game of jigsaw puzzle, modular building blocks are designed and fabricated. Their versatility is demonstrated by an easy-to-assemble routine to form geometric designs with desirable properties for a specific function. Guided by numerical simulations and experimental tests, the merit of the modular architected material is exemplified by designing adaptive flow regulators. By strategically arranging units and joints, the designed structures exhibit tunable stiffness and programmable reconfigurations, resulting in an adaptive flow regulation compared to their rigid counterpart. Overall, the integrated approach allows customized structural designs with less material waste, enriching the versatility of architected materials for multifunctional devices.

Automated summary

The study introduces a new class of modular architected materials, which demonstrate versatility and reconfigurability through an easy-to-assemble routine. The designed structures exhibit desirable properties for a specific function, exemplified by adaptive flow regulators.