A novel transforming mechanical metastructure capable of shape morphing and locking

Shape morphing structures are rapidly appearing at the frontiers of sciences and technologies, yet it is challenging for them to retain their shapes and sustain loads. This paper introduces a novel transforming mechanical meta structure (TMMS) capable of shape morphing and locking. Periodically arranging unit cells and modularly assembling, the TMMS can be fabricated into the customized array in a fast and simple way. Deformation actuating and state switching are imposed through mechanical mechanisms for high reliability. For the morphing behaviors, theoretical analysis is carried out to address the kinematical properties, which shows good agreements with experiments. Meanwhile, mechanical tests are performed to validate the shape locking capacities. The analytical models provide a feasible scheme to determine the configuration of the TMMS, and thereby an optimization scheme for accurate shape fitting is developed. This TMMS concept offers a promising viewpoint to develop shape morphing structures and demonstrates outstanding potentials in a wide range of industrial applications.