The mechanical response of periodic and aperiodic multistable knit architectures.

Weft, or v-bed, knitting is a versatile process used to manufacture a huge range of objects including clothing, vehicle upholstery, ducting, and aerospace parts. The stitches formed on either bed are identical reflections of each other. We harness this existing symmetry in a knit stitch and a periodic pattern to manipulate the natural curvature of the material into a self-folding pattern which exhibits multiple stable configurations. We explore the energy landscape of these knits using finite element simulations, and tune the geometric parameters to optimize their mechanical properties. We also investigate the mechanical effects of non-periodicity on these structures. This ranges from a single unit cell with a defect to a completely random textile, which does not exhibit the same large scale folding.