Folding-Wall Kirigami, Design and Compressive Performance Available to Purchase

Kirigami, the cutting and folding of sheets, can create useful three-dimensional shapes from flat material. Some kirigami patterns self-deploy from their flat state when tension is applied; we call these Tension Activated Kirigami (TAK) patterns. A unique TAK pattern has been proposed that deploys under tension into connected rows of vertical, accordion-like, folded walls that visually resembles two-thirds of a full honeycomb structure. This folding-wall TAK pattern has been shown to produce a structure comparably strong to a full honeycomb structure in the same material, achieving a specific strength and specific stiffness averaging 84% and 45% respectively of a full honeycomb¹. The structure is also conformable, allowing it to wrap around objects. The previous study investigated patterns with square wall sections. In this study we expand the design space of the folding-wall TAK pattern by adjusting the aspect ratio of the folded-wall. Folding-wall structures with various heights and lengths were constructed from kraft paper and compressed in a load frame. A simulation was also created to investigate the compressive performance of folding-wall kirigami structures with a larger range of heights and lengths and reinforce the experimental results. The stiffness and strength of the deployed folding-wall TAK structures are presented.