Self-aware composite mechanical metamaterials and method for making same
View Patent ↗A self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial, comprising first and second electrically conductive components disposed relative to each other to act as opposite electrodes to induce contact electrification; wherein the first and second electrically conductive components, along with a dielectric component serving as a skeleton of the self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial, form a lattice of snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments, wherein each of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments has an elastic snap-through instability mechanism; and wherein the lattice comprises periodic repeatable parallel rows of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments.
1. A self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial, comprising:
first and second electrically conductive components disposed relative to each other to act as opposite electrodes to induce contact electrification;
wherein the first and second electrically conductive components, along with a dielectric component serving as a skeleton of the self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial, form a lattice of snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments, wherein each of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments has an elastic snap-through instability mechanism; and
wherein the lattice comprises periodic repeatable parallel rows of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments.
2. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 , wherein the first and second electrically conductive components are embedded in the dielectric component.
3. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 2 , wherein the lattice comprises a 5 by 5 array of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments.
4. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 2 , wherein the electrically conductive components comprise polylactic acid and carbon black and the dielectric component comprises polyurethane.
5. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 , wherein a structure of the self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial forms a composite matrix of the electrically conductive and dielectric components in a periodic manner.
6. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 5 , wherein the lattice comprises a 5 by 5 array of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments.
7. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 5 , wherein the electrically conductive components comprise polylactic acid and carbon black and the dielectric component comprises polyurethane.
8. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 , wherein each of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments comprises a portion of each of the first electrically conductive component, the second electrically conductive component and the dielectric component.
9. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 8 , wherein the lattice comprises a 5 by 5 array of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments.
10. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 , wherein opposing, parallel ends of the lattice are bound to respective supporting members.
11. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 10 , wherein the lattice comprises a 5 by 5 array of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments.
12. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 , wherein the lattice comprises a 5 by 5 array of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments.
13. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive components comprise polylactic acid.
14. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive components comprise carbon black.
15. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive components comprise polylactic acid and carbon black.
16. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 , wherein the dielectric component comprises polyurethane.
17. The self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 , wherein the electrically conductive components comprise polylactic acid and carbon black and the dielectric component comprises polyurethane.
18. An energy harvester comprising the self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 .
19. A sensor comprising the self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial of claim 1 .
20. A method of manufacturing a self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial comprising first and second electrically conductive components disposed relative to each other to act as opposite electrodes to induce contact electrification; wherein the first and second electrically conductive components, along with a dielectric component serving as a skeleton of the self-aware composite mechanical metamaterial, form a lattice of snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments, wherein each of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments has an elastic snap-through instability mechanism; and wherein the lattice comprises periodic repeatable parallel rows of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments, comprising:
using 3D printing or other additive manufacturing process employing multi-material filaments to produce the lattice comprising periodic repeatable parallel rows of the snapping curved semicircular-shaped segments.