Kirigami Auxetic Pyramidal Core: Mechanical Properties and Wave Propagation Analysis in Damped Lattice

The work describes the manufacturing, mechanical properties, and wave propagation characteristics of a pyramidal lattice made exhibiting an auxetic (negative Poisson's ratio) behavior. Contrary to similar lattice tessellations produced using metal cores, the pyramidal lattice described in this work is manufactured using a kirigami (origami plus cutting pattern) technique, which can be applied to a large variety of thermoset and thermoplastic composites. Due to the particular geometry created through this manufacturing technique, the kirigami pyramidal lattice shows an inversion between in-plane and out-of-plane mechanical properties compared to classical honeycomb configurations. Long wavelength approximations are used to calculate the slowness curves, showing unusual zero-curvature phononic properties in the transverse plane. A novel 2D wave propagation technique based on Bloch waves for damped structures is also applied to evaluate the dispersion behavior of composite (Kevlar/epoxy) lattices with intrinsic hysteretic loss. The 2D wave propagation analysis shows evanescence directivity at different frequency bandwidths and complex modal behavior due to unusual deformation mechanism of the lattice.