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This study examines the transverse elastic wave propagation bandgap in a buckled kirigami sheet. Kirigami — the ancient art of paper cutting — has become a design and fabrication framework for constructing metamaterials, robotics, and mechanical devices of vastly different sizes. For the first time, this study focuses on the wave propagation in a buckled kirigami sheet with uniformly distributed parallel cuts. When we apply an in-plane stretching force that exceeds a critical threshold, this kirigami sheet buckles and generates an out-of-plane, periodic deformation pattern that can change the propagation direction of passing waves. That is, waves entering the buckled Kirigami unit cells through its longitudinal direction can turn to the out-of-plane direction. As a result, the stretched kirigami sheet shows wave propagation band gaps in specific frequency ranges. This study formulates an analytical model to analyze the correlation between such propagation bandgap and the kirigami geometry. This model first simplifies the complex shape of buckled kirigami by introducing “virtual” folds and flat facets in between them. Then it incorporates the plane wave expansion method (PWE) to calculate the dispersion relationship, which shows that the periodic nature of the buckled kirigami sheet is sufficient to create Bragg scattering propagation bandgap. This study’s results could open up new dynamic functionalities of kirigami as a versatile and multi-functional structural system.
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This content will become publicly available on October 6, 2026
A postbuckling-based metamaterial for switching the propagation of surface acoustic waves
The use of periodic materials for wave control and signal processing has been a focus of intensive research over the past two decades and continues to garner significant attention. Common signal processing mechanisms like switches and rectifiers often depend on magnetic fields and/or logic gates for their activation. We propose a metamaterial that enables the control of mechanical waves—surface acoustic waves—through an ON–OFF mechanism that switches the propagation of the waves through a tunable platform of elastic beams. In the OFF configuration, the beams remain in their undeformed state and resonate at a specific frequency range, creating a bandgap that stops wave propagation. Conversely, in the ON configuration, the beams undergo buckling, redistributing the vibration energy across multiple modes and eliminating the bandgap, thus allowing wave propagation. Analytical and numerical findings demonstrate the significant potential of this mechanism for controlling wave propagation in nonlinear periodic materials. This switching mechanism relies purely on mechanical processes, thereby eliminating the need for external fields.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2242925
- PAR ID:
- 10689959
- Publisher / Repository:
- AIP Publishing
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Applied Physics Letters
- Volume:
- 127
- Issue:
- 14
- ISSN:
- 0003-6951
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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