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June 11, 2021

Tensegrity metamaterials

These novel tensegrity -- a design principle where isolated rigid bars are integrated into a flexible mesh of tethers to produce very lightweight, self-tensioning truss structures -- metamaterials employ isolated compressive loop elements exclusively connected through a continuous network of tensile members (highlighted in magenta).

[Research supported by U.S. National Science Foundation grant CMMI 1902685.]

Learn more about this research in the University of California, Irvine news story UCI-led team creates new ultralightweight, crush-resistant tensegrity metamaterials. (Date of image: unknown; date originally posted to NSF Multimedia Gallery: June 11, 2021)

Credit: Jens Bauer and Cameron Crook/UCI


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