Tunable Snapping and Rigid Foldability in the Mars Origami Pattern

Abstract: Origami-inspired metamaterials exploit the interplay between geometry and elasticity to achieve programmable mechanical responses. Yet the origin and tunability of snap-through instabilities in non-rigidly foldable patterns remain poorly understood. Here we show that the Mars tessellation, a degree-4 vertex origami pattern composed of alternating square and rhombic faces, is not rigidly foldable because the folding-speed ratios required for vertex compatibility cannot be propagated consistently across neighboring units. This geometric incompatibility forces the facets to bend during folding, giving rise to a reproducible snap-through discontinuity in the force-displacement curve with a mean force drop of about 92.6 +/- 5.5 %, marking a transition between metastable states. Laser scoring of additional diagonal creases, guided by strain-field simulations, enables continuous tuning of the snap magnitude. These results reveal a general mechanism by which geometric frustration can be harnessed to program multistability in thin-sheet metamaterials.