No Arabic abstract
This article investigates phonons and elastic response in randomly diluted lattices constructed by combining (via the addition of next-nearest bonds) a twisted kagome lattice, with bulk modulus $B=0$ and shear modulus $G>0$, with either a generalized untwisted kagome lattice with $B>0$ and $G>0$ or with a honeycomb lattice with $B>0$ and $G=0$. These lattices exhibit jamming-like critical end-points at which $B$, $G$, or both $B$ and $G$ jump discontinuously from zero while the remaining moduli (if any) begin to grow continuously from zero. Pairs of these jamming points are joined by lines of continuous rigidity percolation transitions at which both $B$ and $G$ begin to grow continuously from zero. The Poisson ratio and $G/B$ can be continuously tuned throughout their physical range via random dilution in a manner analogous to tuning by pruning in random jammed lattices. These lattices can be produced with modern techniques, such as 3D printing, for constructing metamaterials.
Topological mechanics can realize soft modes in mechanical metamaterials in which the number of degrees of freedom for particle motion is finely balanced by the constraints provided by interparticle interactions. However, solid objects are generally hyperstatic (or overconstrained). Here, we show how symmetries may be applied to generate topological soft modes even in overconstrained, rigid systems. To do so, we consider non-Hermitian topology based on non-square matrices, and design a hyperstatic material in which low-energy modes protected by topology and symmetry appear at interfaces. Our approach presents a novel way of generating softness in robust scale-free architectures suitable for miniaturization to the nanoscale.
Mechanical metamaterials present a promising platform for seemingly impossible mechanics. They often require incompatibility of their elementary building blocks, yet a comprehensive understanding of its role remains elusive. Relying on an analogy to ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic binary spin interactions, we present a universal approach to identify and analyze topological mechanical defects for arbitrary building blocks. We underline differences between two- and three-dimensional metamaterials, and show how topological defects can steer stresses and strains in a controlled and non-trivial manner and can inspire the design of materials with hitherto unknown complex mechanical response.
Architectural transformations play a key role in the evolution of complex systems, from design algorithms for metamaterials to flow and plasticity of disordered media. Here, we develop a general framework for the evolution of the linear mechanical response of network structures under discrete architectural transformations via sequential removal and addition of elastic elements. We focus on a class of spatially complex metamaterials, consisting of triangular building blocks. Rotations of these building blocks, corresponding to removing and adding elastic elements, introduce (topological) architectural defects. We show that the metamaterials states of self stress play a crucial role, and that the mutually exclusive self stress states between two different network architectures span the difference in their mechanical response. For our class of metamaterials, we identify a localized representation of these states of self stress, which allows us to capture the evolving response. We use our insights to understand the unusual stress-steering behaviour of topological defects.
Many physical systems including lattices near structural phase transitions, glasses, jammed solids, and bio-polymer gels have coordination numbers that place them at the edge of mechanical instability. Their properties are determined by an interplay between soft mechanical modes and thermal fluctuations. In this paper we investigate a simple square-lattice model with a $phi^4$ potential between next-nearest-neighbor sites whose quadratic coefficient $kappa$ can be tuned from positive negative. We show that its zero-temperature ground state for $kappa <0$ is highly degenerate, and we use analytical techniques and simulation to explore its finite temperature properties. We show that a unique rhombic ground state is entropically favored at nonzero temperature at $kappa <0$ and that the existence of a subextensive number of floppy modes whose frequencies vanish at $kappa = 0$ leads to singular contributions to the free energy that render the square-to-rhombic transition first order and lead to power-law behavior of the shear modulus as a function of temperature. We expect our study to provide a general framework for the study of finite-temperature mechanical and phase behavior of other systems with a large number of floppy modes.
Mechanism - collections of rigid elements coupled by perfect hinges which exhibit a zero-energy motion -- motivate the design of a variety of mechanical metamaterials. We significantly enlarge this design space by considering pseudo-mechanisms, collections of elastically coupled elements that exhibit motions with very low energy costs. We show that their geometric design generally is distinct from those of true mechanisms, thus opening up a large and virtually unexplored design space. We further extend this space by designing building blocks with bistable and tristable energy landscapes, realize these by 3D printing, and show how these form unit cells for multistable metamaterials.