title: Controlled mechanical buckling for origami-inspired construction of 3D microstructures in advanced materials.
abstract: Origami is a topic of rapidly growing interest in both the scientific and engineering research communities due to its promising potential in a broad range of applications. Previous assembly approaches of origami structures at the micro/nanoscale are constrained by the applicable classes of materials, topologies and/or capability of control over the transformation. Here, we introduce an approach that exploits controlled mechanical buckling for autonomic origami assembly of 3D structures across material classes from soft polymers to brittle inorganic semiconductors, and length scales from nanometers to centimeters. This approach relies on a spatial variation of thickness in the initial 2D structures as an effective strategy to produce engineered folding creases during the compressive buckling process. The elastic nature of the assembly scheme enables active, deterministic control over intermediate states in the 2D to 3D transformation in a continuous and reversible manner. Demonstrations include a broad set of 3D structures formed through unidirectional, bidirectional, and even hierarchical folding, with examples ranging from half cylindrical columns and fish scales, to cubic boxes, pyramids, starfish, paper fans, skew tooth structures, and to amusing system-level examples of soccer balls, model houses, cars, and multi-floor textured buildings.
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA).
authors: Zheng
authors: Z
authors: Yan
authors: Center for Mechanics and Materials, AML, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (P.R. China).
authors: Fan
authors: F
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA).
authors: Jiechen
authors: J
authors: Wang
authors: Center for Mechanics and Materials, AML, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (P.R. China).
authors: Fei
authors: F
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA).
authors: Xuelin
authors: X
authors: Guo
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA).
authors: Kewang
authors: K
authors: Nan
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA).
authors: Qing
authors: Q
authors: Lin
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA).
authors: Mingye
authors: M
authors: Gao
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA).
authors: Dongqing
authors: D
authors: Xiao
authors: Center for Mechanics and Materials, AML, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (P.R. China).
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Shi
authors: Department of Automotive Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (P.R. China).
authors: Yitao
authors: Y
authors: Qiu
authors: Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, Center for Engineering and Health, and Skin Disease Research Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208 (USA).
authors: Haiwen
authors: H
authors: Luan
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA).
authors: Jung Hwan
authors: JH
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA).
authors: Yiqi
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, Center for Engineering and Health, and Skin Disease Research Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208 (USA). School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092 (P. R. China).
authors: Hongying
authors: H
authors: Luo
authors: National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Micro/Nano Fabrication, Peking University, Beijing 100871 (P. R. China).
authors: Mengdi
authors: M
authors: Han
authors: Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering, Center for Engineering and Health, and Skin Disease Research Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208 (USA).
authors: Yonggang
authors: Y
authors: Huang
authors: Center for Mechanics and Materials, AML, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Tsinghua University Beijing 100084 (P.R. China).
authors: Yihui
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Chemistry, Mechanical Science and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, and Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (USA).
authors: John A
authors: JA
authors: Rogers
keywords: Buckling; Kirigami; Modeling; Origami; Three-dimensional Assembly