Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2024 - 20

Manufacturing & Prototyping
Using Kirigami to make Ultrastrong, Lightweight Structures
Produced with techniques borrowed from Japanese paper-cutting, the strong metal lattices
are lighter than cork and have customizable mechanical properties.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
C
ellular solids are materials composed
of many cells that have been packed
together, such as a honeycomb. The
shape of those cells largely determines
the material's mechanical properties,
including its stiffness or strength. Bones,
for instance, are filled with a natural
material that enables them to be lightweight,
but stiff and strong.
Inspired by bones and other cellular
solids found in nature, humans have
used the same concept to develop architected
materials. By changing the
geometry of the unit cells that make up
these materials, researchers can customize
the material's mechanical, thermal,
or acoustic properties. Architected materials
are used in many applications,
from shock-absorbing packing foam to
heat-regulating radiators.
Using kirigami, the ancient Japanese
art of folding and cutting paper, MIT researchers
have now manufactured a type
of high-performance architected material
known as a plate lattice, on a much
larger scale than scientists have previously
been able to achieve by additive
fabrication. This technique allows them
to create these structures from metal or
other materials with custom shapes and
tailored mechanical properties.
" This material is like steel cork. It is
lighter than cork, but with high strength
and high stiffness, " said Professor Neil Gershenfeld,
who leads the Center for Bits and
Atoms (CBA) at MIT and is senior author
of a new paper on this approach.
Kirigami has been used to produce
plate lattices from partially folded zigzag
creases. But to make a sandwich structure,
one must attach flat plates to the
top and bottom of this corrugated core
onto the narrow points formed by the
zigzag creases. This often requires strong
adhesives or welding techniques that can
make assembly slow, costly, and challenging
to scale.
The MIT researchers modified a common
origami crease pattern, known as
a Miura-ori pattern, so the sharp points
of the corrugated structure are trans20
MIT
researchers used kirigami, the art of Japanese paper cutting and folding, to develop ultrastrong,
lightweight materials that have tunable mechanical properties, like stiffness and flexibility. These materials
could be used in airplanes, automobiles, or spacecraft. (Image: Courtesy of the researchers)
The MIT researchers modified a common origami crease pattern, known as a Miura-ori pattern, so
the sharp points of the corrugated structure are transformed into facets. The facets, like those on
a diamond, provide flat surfaces to which the plates can be attached more easily, with bolts or
rivets. (Image: Courtesy of the researchers)
formed into facets. The facets, like those
on a diamond, provide flat surfaces to
which the plates can be attached more
easily, with bolts or rivets.
" Plate lattices outperform beam lattices
in strength and stiffness while mainwww.techbriefs.com
taining
the same weight and internal
structure, " said Parra Rubio. " Reaching
the H-S upper bound for theoretical
stiffness and strength has been demonstrated
through nanoscale production
using two-photon lithography. Plate latTech
Briefs, February 2024

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Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2024

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