A 3D metamaterial with negative stiffness for six-directional energy absorption and cushioning

To attenuate the impact acceleration under multidirectional loads, a mechanical metamaterial with six -directional cushioning and energy-absorbing properties is urgently needed. The study proposes a 3D negative stiffness (NS) metamaterial (NS-MM), which exhibits a bidirectional NS effect and cushion capacity under compressive and tensile loading in three principal directions. The unit cell of NS-MMs contains three pairs of parallel cross-curved beams mounted in a cubical frame, and the NS effect is obtained by controlled elastic buckling of the cross-curved beams. The mechanical analysis of one unit cell is conducted toward predicting the static response. The static performance of the NS-MMs composed of 1 x 1 x 1 and 2 x 2 x 2 unit cells in three principal directions is investigated by numerical calculations and experiments with quasi-static tension- compression conditions. Comprehensive results indicate the proposed structure has the characteristics of shape recovery, bidirectional NS property, and good energy absorption under tension and compressive loads in one principal direction and has the same mechanical properties in three principal directions. Transient dynamic analysis is exploited to investigate the cushioning performance. The obtained response acceleration (RA) is effectively attenuated in both directions and limited to a certain threshold.