New topology design of 3D chiral metamaterials with compression-twist coupling effect

Chiral structure can be used for compression-twist coupling (CTC) metamaterials, exhibiting twist deformation under axial compression. In this study, a series of chiral CTC metamaterials were designed based on the 3D tetra-chiral structure, including cube-type and cylinder-type structures. The CTC properties of these metamaterials were investigated in detail by finite element simulations and experiments. The results show that the proposed chiral configurations have better CTC effects than the original 3D tetra-chiral structure. Furthermore, a wide range of adjustable torsion angles can be achieved by changing the geometrical parameters. Finally, the energy absorption properties of these structures were also discussed.