Topology-driven multistage strengthening in space-filling tessellated origami lattice structures with hollow prismatic struts

In the current paper, two types of origami-inspired lattice structures, inspired by space-filling tessellated origami structure, were developed with body-centred cubic (BCC) and face-centred cubic (FCC) topologies. The influence of lattice topology, taper angle, cone height ratio, and base-to-height ratio were experimentally investigated. The results show that the proper rib-plate topology in BCC-type origami-inspired lattice structures can significantly improve their mechanical performances, including strength, stiffness, and energy absorption capacity. The specific strength and specific energy absorption of modified BCC-type origami-inspired lattice structures outperform the original BCC lattice structures by 95.9% and 218.5%, respectively. Furthermore, the mechanical response of the origami-inspired lattice structures can be optimized by adjusting the geometric parameters of the microstructures, such as taper angle, cone height ratio, and base-to-height ratio. Notably, these designs promote delocalized deformation modes consistently outperform those with localized deformation modes in terms of mechanical performance. Additionally, some of the proposed lattice structures exhibit a pronounced linear strengthening and multi-stage strengthening in their stress-strain response, which can be achieved simply by tuning the base-to-height ratio and rib-plate layout. Overall, our study offers an approach to enhance the mechanical performance of origami-inspired lattice structures, making them suitable for engineering applications that demand both lightweight and high-strength structures. • The proper orientation and topology of plates can improve energy absorption. • The delocalized deformation modes significantly enhance mechanical performance. • The linear and multi-stage strengthening in stress-strain response. • The strengthening mechanisms found in shell and plate lattice structures was used.