Study of rhombic star-shaped honeycomb with tunable Poisson’s ratio and elastic modulus properties

This paper presents a novel rhombic star-shaped honeycomb (RSSH) configuration with tunable Poisson's ratio and elastic modulus, and an RSSH with the U-shaped ligaments (URSSH) configuration is generated to analyze the effect of the curved ligaments on the elastic properties of RSSH. Cellular structure of RSSH combines with a rhombic and an improved star-shaped geometry, which can also be subdivided into flexible segments and rigid segments. In-plane elastic properties of the RSSH cell, including Poisson’s ratio and elastic modulus, are both derived by analytical model based on flexibility modeling method and Castigliano’s second theorem. Based on the guidance of theoretical model, quasi-static tensile experiments and finite element simulation of RSSH and URSSH specimens are carried out with different Poisson’s ratio. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions and finite element analysis results. Length of cellular ligaments L_t1, d_t have linear relationship with mechanical properties of the RSSH cell under constant angle θ ₁ and make the cellular configurations with different Poisson’s ratio more obtainable. The effect of the symmetry of the flexible segments on the cellular mechanical properties is also analyzed through theoretical prediction. The introduction of asymmetry can bring wider design space of RSSH mechanical properties, especially Poisson's ratio. This work demonstrates the promising potential for applying RSSH configurations in 2D morphing structures with tunable auxetic behaviors.