Probability-Based Analyses of the Snap-Through in Cage-Shaped Mesostructures Under Out-of-Plane Compressions

Three-dimensional (3D) mesostructures with distinct compressive deformation behaviors and tunable mechanical responses have gained increasing interest in recent years. 3D cage-shaped mesostructures are representative framework structures widely exploited in 3D flexible electronics, owing to their unique cellular geometry and unusual mechanical responses. The snap-through behavior of cage-shaped mesostructures could potentially result in the performance degradation of electronics, while it could also be harnessed to design reconfigurable electronics. Due to the complicated deformation modes and random characteristics in experiments, the snap-through behavior of cage-shaped mesostructures remains largely unexplored, especially in terms of probability-based analyses. In this work, we present a systematic study on the configuration evolution and snap-through of 3D cage-shaped mesostructures under out-of-plane compressions. Experimental and computational studies show the existence of two distinct deformation modes associated with the snap-through, which is controlled by the energy barrier based on the energetic analyses. Phase diagrams of the deformation modes decode how key geometric parameters and assembly strain affect the snap-through. Compressive experiments based on periodic arrays (10 × 10) of mesostructures provided a large amount of deformation data, allowing for statistical analyses of the snap-through behavior. These results provide new insights and useful guidelines for the design of 3D reconfigurable devices and multistable metamaterials based on 3D cage-shaped mesostructures.