Designing 3D Digital Metamaterial for Elastic Waves: From Elastic Wave Polarizer to Vibration Control

Elastic wave polarizers, which can filter out linearly polarized elastic waves from hybrid elastic waves, remain a challenge since elastic waves contain both transverse and longitudinal natures. Here, a tunable, digital, locally resonant metamaterial inspired by abacus is proposed, which consists of 3D-printed octahedral frames and built-in electromagnets. By controlling current in the electromagnets, each unit cell exhibits three digital modes, where the elastic waves have different characteristics of propagation under each mode. A variety of waveguides can be formed by a combination of the three modes and desired polarization can be further filtered out from hybrid elastic waves in a tunable manner. The underlying mechanism of these polarizer-like characteristics is investigated through a combination of theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and experimental testing. This study provides a means of filtering out the desired wave from hybrid elastic waves, and offers promise for vibration control of particle distribution and flexible structure.