IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v596y2021i7871d10.1038_s41586-021-03698-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Structured fabrics with tunable mechanical properties

Author

Listed:
  • Yifan Wang

    (California Institute of Technology
    Nanyang Technological University)

  • Liuchi Li

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Douglas Hofmann

    (Jet Propulsion Laboratory/ California Institute of Technology)

  • José E. Andrade

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Chiara Daraio

    (California Institute of Technology)

Abstract

Structured fabrics, such as woven sheets or chain mail armours, derive their properties both from the constitutive materials and their geometry1,2. Their design can target desirable characteristics, such as high impact resistance, thermal regulation, or electrical conductivity3–5. Once realized, however, the fabrics’ properties are usually fixed. Here we demonstrate structured fabrics with tunable bending modulus, consisting of three-dimensional particles arranged into layered chain mails. The chain mails conform to complex shapes2, but when pressure is exerted at their boundaries, the particles interlock and the chain mails jam. We show that, with small external pressure (about 93 kilopascals), the sheets become more than 25 times stiffer than in their relaxed configuration. This dramatic increase in bending resistance arises because the interlocking particles have high tensile resistance, unlike what is found for loose granular media. We use discrete-element simulations to relate the chain mail’s micro-structure to macroscale properties and to interpret experimental measurements. We find that chain mails, consisting of different non-convex granular particles, undergo a jamming phase transition that is described by a characteristic power-law function akin to the behaviour of conventional convex media. Our work provides routes towards lightweight, tunable and adaptive fabrics, with potential applications in wearable exoskeletons, haptic architectures and reconfigurable medical supports.

Suggested Citation

  • Yifan Wang & Liuchi Li & Douglas Hofmann & José E. Andrade & Chiara Daraio, 2021. "Structured fabrics with tunable mechanical properties," Nature, Nature, vol. 596(7871), pages 238-243, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:596:y:2021:i:7871:d:10.1038_s41586-021-03698-7
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03698-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03698-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-021-03698-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lei Wu & Damiano Pasini, 2024. "Zero modes activation to reconcile floppiness, rigidity, and multistability into an all-in-one class of reprogrammable metamaterials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Xinchen Ni & Haiwen Luan & Jin-Tae Kim & Sam I. Rogge & Yun Bai & Jean Won Kwak & Shangliangzi Liu & Da Som Yang & Shuo Li & Shupeng Li & Zhengwei Li & Yamin Zhang & Changsheng Wu & Xiaoyue Ni & Yongg, 2022. "Soft shape-programmable surfaces by fast electromagnetic actuation of liquid metal networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Jun Kyu Choe & Junsoo Kim & Hyeonseo Song & Joonbum Bae & Jiyun Kim, 2023. "A soft, self-sensing tensile valve for perceptive soft robots," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Siqi An & Xiaowen Li & Zengrong Guo & Yi Huang & Yanlin Zhang & Hanqing Jiang, 2024. "Energy-efficient dynamic 3D metasurfaces via spatiotemporal jamming interleaved assemblies for tactile interfaces," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Huawei Qu & Chongjian Gao & Kaizheng Liu & Hongya Fu & Zhiyuan Liu & Paul H. J. Kouwer & Zhenyu Han & Changshun Ruan, 2024. "Gradient matters via filament diameter-adjustable 3D printing," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:596:y:2021:i:7871:d:10.1038_s41586-021-03698-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.