Multistable shape-reconfigurable metawire in 3D space

Abstract Reconfiguring to complex 3-dimensional (3D) target shapes from an easily-manufactured low dimensional initial configuration is crucial for many versatile materials/structures which require tunable functions and multiple applications. However, the energy-efficient morphing strategy to realize such transdimensional shape-reconfiguration remains largely unexplored. Here a 1-dimensional (1D) wire-shaped multistable metastructure, named metawire, which has rich shape-reconfigurability in 3D space with simply predictable and algorithmically designable shapes is proposed. The metawire is constructed by serially connected multistable units with long straight state, short straight state and especially multidirectional bent state with transdimensional deformability. The states as well as the corresponding configurations of the units are independently tunable, and thus the shape of the metawire is easily predictable by directly stacking the units with different certain shapes. Accordingly, inverse design schemes and algorithms are proposed for reconfiguring to target 2-dimensional (2D) and 3D shapes, respectively. Using the algorithms, the metawire can be reconfigured to arbitrary target shapes rapidly and accurately. Moreover, the potential application of the metawire to reconfigurable antennas is well verified by experiments and simulations. This work provides a straightforward design strategy to realize complex transdimensional shape-reconfiguration, paving a new way for transformable machines.