Publication: Design, analysis, and fabrication of special origami structure using 3d printing for reducing surface impact force
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Date
2024-07-01
Authors
Tan Xing Hong
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Abstract
Origami which is an art of paper folding had begun to be explored for its applications in engineering field such as medical, robotics, aerospace (foldable solar panel for satellite), load reduction surface, sound absorbing surface even to small scale nano and DNA origamis etc due to its foldability which can help to save spaces and its variable unique characteristics of different crease pattern. In this project, origami structure is studied for its capabilities in reducing surface impact force. The origami structure is designed using SolidWorks with sheet metal functions. Several designs have been tried, modified and prototyped (including multi-material and single material origami). Since the final design is modified from multi-material origami which serves as an important reference, they are included in the appendix. FDM 3D printing had been utilized for prototyping and fabrication of origami structure as 3D printing has the capability to produce complex part like origami which could be challenging for conventional manufacturing method like subtractive manufacturing, forming and casting. The material used for the origami structure is TPU 85 A which is a thermoplastic with high toughness and flexibility. Miura origami pattern had been chosen as the design in this project. The final design of the origami structure exhibits some features such as cuttings at intersections that can facilitate the folding of origami with finite thickness and varied thickness of material that guide the folding of origami. The individual origami structure is also stacked together to form origami stack to increase the loading areas for surface impact force and increase its impact force reduction capacity through more available joints and soft hinges for deformation. There is another design which is the scaled-down version of initial design with doubled layers and a greater number of Miura origami pairs to study their effect in reducing surface impact force. Besides, origami solid with outline of origami design 2 had also been produced and tested to study together the ability of origami design in reducing mass yet retaining good impact energy absorption, in accordance the potentials of origami in developing metamaterial. Explicit dynamics analysis had been done using Ansys to simulate the impact test to provide insight of maximum equivalent stress and strain distribution on impact plate, origami structure and metal plate and most importantly the impact force on the dynamometer. Furthermore, internal energy of the origami structures was also used to calculate the SEA (specific energy absorption) of origami structure. Experiment of impact test had also been carried out using an impact test machine equipped with dynamometer, amplifier and data acquisition system. Both experimental and simulations results are used to analyse and compared and the result shows that origami structure design 2 (scaled-down version) effectively reduces the surface impact force by 92.85 % and having a SEA of 193.771 J/kg due to the more available joints, soft hinges and layers for deformation that facilitate the impact energy absorption and produce damping effect. Expansion of Miura origami stack during impact also reduce the impact force. Manufacturability and the potential applications of origami structure in reducing surface impact force is also discussed.