title: k-cones and kirigami metamaterials.
abstract: We are inspired by the tensile buckling of a thin sheet with a slit to create a foldable planar metamaterial. The buckled shape comprises two pairs of identical e-cones connected to the slit, which we refer to as a k-cone. We approximate this shape as discrete vertices that can be folded out of plane as the slit is pulled apart. We determine their kinematics and we calculate generic shape properties using a simple elastic model of the folded shape. We then show how the folded sheet may be tessellated as a unit cell within a larger sheet, which may be constructed a priori by cutting and folding the latter in a regular way, in order to form a planar kirigami structure with a single degree of freedom.
authors.affiliation: Advanced Structures Group Laboratory, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Keith A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Seffen