Three-dimensional material converts linear compression forces into a rotation movement tagged posts

Towers of up to 500 chiral cubic structures rotated around their axis under load. Achiral structures do not exhibit this behavior. Credit: T. Frenzel/KIT

Using 3D printers for the microrange, researchers of KIT have succeeded in creating a metamaterial from cubic building blocks that responds to compression forces by a rotation. Usually, this can only be achieved by transmission using a crankshaft, for instance. The sophisticated design of bars and ring structures and the underlying mathematics are now presented in the latest issue of Science.

“If a force is exerted from above onto a material, the latter deforms in various ways. It may be bulged, compressed, or bent,” says Martin Wegener, Professor of the Institute of Applied Physics and Director of the Institute of Nanotechnology of KIT...