Elastic deformability and zero Poisson's ratio within a novel structure inspired by the gardenia from nature

Previous studies used to take the regular configuration as the element of the cellular structures, then carry out geometric optimization on the initial structures. Nowadays, more and more bionic metamaterial have been studied for their unique properties, such as bionic honeycomb tubular nested structure, bionic sinusoidal honeycomb, butterfly honeycomb, bamboo and beetle forewing thin-walled structures. Here, we report a novel gardenia-shaped honeycomb (GSH) by observing the gardenia from nature. Two valuable mechanical properties within GSH were explored in this study, which can simultaneously provide good deformability and zero Poisson's ratio effect. To understand the mechanical properties of GSH, we show by theoretical, numerical, and experimental methods where is a good agreement. The developed theoretical models for calculating the in-plane elastic modulus are based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theorem and energy principle. The numerical and experimental tensile process at coincident strain were captured to strongly show the deformability of GSH. The findings of this study provide essential guidance for the design of GSH structures with the desired mechanical properties.