A unified geometric design framework for kirigami structures

Abstract

In recent years, kirigami metamaterials have been widely studied and applied in science and engineering. While various two- and three-dimensional kirigami design methods have been developed, most of them are only applicable to a limited class of kirigami structures. In this work, we develop a unified framework for kirigami design that encompasses a wide range of 2D-to-2D, 2D-to-3D, and 3D-to-3D shape-morphing effects, as well as additional geometric and physical properties such as compact reconfigurability and rigid deployability. In particular, by reformulating the design task as a length-based constrained optimization problem and solving it simultaneously for multiple target states of the kirigami structure, our unified design framework enables greater design flexibility and stronger theoretical support. Experimental results with a wide range of shape-morphing effects are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework. We further present a rigorous theoretical analysis of several key aspects of kirigami design, covering inertia transposition, aspect-ratio law, and angle defects, thereby elucidating important design rules and limitations. Altogether, our work paves a new way for the design of shape-morphing mechanical metamaterials.