Programming impulsive deformation with mechanical metamaterials

Impulsive deformation is widely observed in biological systems to generate movement with high acceleration and velocity. By storing elastic energy in a quasi-static loading and releasing it through an impulsive elastic recoil, organisms circumvent the intrinsic trade-off between force and velocity and achieve power amplified motion. However, such asymmetry in strain rate in loading and unloading often results in reduced efficiency in converting elastic energy to kinetic energy for homogeneous materials. Here, we demonstrate that specific internal structural designs can offer the ability to tune quasi-static and high-speed recoil independently to control energy storage and conversion processes. Experimental demonstrations with mechanical metamaterials reveal that certain internal structures optimize energy conversion far beyond unstructured materials under the same conditions. Our results provide the first quantitative model and experimental demonstration for tuning energy conversion processes through internal structures of metamaterials.