Keeping it Together: Interleaved Kirigami Extension Assembly


Abstract in English

Traditional origami structures can be continuously deformed back to a flat sheet of paper, while traditional kirigami requires glue or seams in order to maintain its rigidity. In the former, non-trivial geometry can be created through overfolding paper while, in the latter, the paper topology is modified. Here we propose a hybrid approach that relies upon overlapped flaps that create in-plane compression resulting in the formation of virtual elastic shells. Not only are these structures self-supporting, but they have colossal load-to-weight ratios of order 10000.

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