Numerical Investigation of a Novel Twisting Metamaterial Based on Cells Composed of Two Triangular Lattices

Chirality in elastic mechanical metamaterials has revealed the existence of an additional rotational degree of freedom as part of a global compression-induced torsional behavior. In this paper, a new three-dimensional (3D) chiral twisting metamaterial with cells composed of two triangular lattices is proposed. A series of finite element models is performed to demonstrate the high performance in terms of compression-to-twisting behaviors. The results show that the torsion angle of the unit cell can reach a maximum value of 23.45° at a compressive strain of 1%. This opens up a wide range of potential applications, including elastic modes’ conversion, microelectronics, actuators, and sensors.