Work

Trusses beyond trusses: intertwined and straw-based metamaterials and beyond

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Periodic beam-based metamaterials have been extensively explored for their tunable stiffness, strength, and wave dispersion. Recent efforts extend this concept by maintaining the lattice topology but replacing beams by more complex structural members-such as straws or intertwined fibers. These mechanical metamaterials leverage underexplored mechanisms from the small-scale design such as contact, friction, and sliding, or multistability and reversible reconfigurability. This provides opportunities for untapped design spaces and performance exploration.

Source: npj Metamaterials

DOI: 10.1038/s44455-026-00027-8

Authors: Elias Pescialli, Junyu Chen, Konstantinos Karapiperis, Dotan Ilssar, Dennis M. Kochmann

Institutions: ETH Zurich, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Language: English

Topic: Cellular and Composite Structures

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,590

Funders: National Science Foundation, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung