Origami-inspired Miura-ori honeycombs with a self-locking property

This paper proposes a novel design of origami-inspired honeycomb metamaterial with a self-locking property. The concept of Miura-ori has been used to create a unique family of Miura-ori honeycombs in which a core layer at the middle is sandwiched by two secondary flange layers. The self-locking feature is realized by a prior densification of the flanges when pressed, which increases the overall energy absorption whilst keeping the initial peak load low. Experimental and numerical methods were used to investigate the compression responses and energy absorption capacities of the Miura-ori honeycombs. It was found from the finite element analyses that properly designed honeycombs could reduce the peak force with better load uniformity while maintaining a good specific energy absorption (SEA) in comparison with conventional square honeycomb. Thus, this work shows a promising way of utilizing the concept of origami to create novel metamaterials with controllable mechanical properties.