Tessellated multistable structures integrated with new transition elements and antisymmetric laminates

TLDR: In this paper , antisymmetrical laminates are introduced into the transition elements to reduce the area of transition elements and also have good applicability to various deformation elements.

Abstract: Multistable structures are known for their high adaptability and are thereby used in various applications in the fields of aerospace, biomedical, and in packaging industries. In this paper, novel multistable structures composed of different deformation elements and new transition elements are presented. Inspired by the shape of the transition region, antisymmetrical laminates are introduced into the transition elements. Samples with different deformation elements in series and parallel are manufactured experimentally, and their properties are found to be in good agreement with the simulation results. The results demonstrate that these new methods not only reduce the area of transition elements but also have good applicability to various deformation elements. Finite element simulations and experiments were conducted to explore the deformations and trigger forces. The influence of the width and thickness of transition elements on multistable structures, as well as the relationship between the laminate angles of deformed elements and the shape of multistable structures, are discussed. The results show that the maximum number of stable states obtained by the experiment is 16. Comparison with other multistable structures demonstrate that deformability is improved, offering a large degree of design freedom for a variety of morphing applications.