Origami-Inspired Polyhedron Sandwich with Programmable Density: Modeling and Design

Origami engineering has been widely concerned by the scientific and engineering field due to its folding capability, reconfigurability, loading ability, bending ability, and twistable capability. Although recent efforts have focused on mechanical programmability, these mechanical functions are programmed into the layout of the metamaterial in a way that cannot be altered. This paper presents an origami-inspired mechanism for programmable density of polyhedron sandwich structure to realize programmability. The design of origami crease pattern of the polyhedral sandwich structure is completed through computer-aided design. Then, a transformation calculation design method is proposed for the N-1 polyhedral sandwich structure to meet the geometric, functional and foldability requirements. The relative density of all the designed structures which switch align tiling to tight tessellation is parameterized based on MATLAB. Our findings clarify the trend of the origami-inspired mechanism for subsequent experimental work. This programmable density of mechanism design and the on-demand programmability of mechanical properties will facilitate the development of advanced forms of mechanical metamaterials.