SIM-AM 2025

3D Printed Multistable Kirigami with Reprogrammable Multi-shape Memory

  • Pasini, Damiano (McGill University)

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Several reconfigurable metamaterials utilizing shape-memory polymers have drawbacks, including complex chemical tuning, limited temporary shapes, and a slow recovery response. In this work, I will present two shape memory kirigami metamaterials, one designed with wavy slits and the other with rotating polygons, that can attain simplified, robust, and rate-adjustable multi-shape memory responses when subjected to a temperature variation. The governing factors of their multi-shape memory arise from both the differing temperature-dependent elastic moduli of the 3D printed bimaterial constituents and their rationally designed multistable building blocks, which allow for unique stability transition temperatures and speeds. Theoretical models and thermomechanical experiments are employed to quantify their precise shape locking through multistability, reprogrammable multi-shape memory, large and controllable shape transformations, and swift recovery through snapping. The method offers remarkable versatility, allowing extension to a wide range of geometric patterns, alternative pairs of materials, and external stimuli, for diverse multifunctional applications from soft robotics to adaptive aerospace structures.