Research led at the University of Michigan modeled how different origami structures made from trapezoidal subunits (i) responded to stresses like compression (ii) and stretching (iii). Image credit: Adapted from J.P. McInerney et al. Nat. Commun. 2025, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57089-x (Used under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license)


Origami—the art of paper folding that originated in Japan centuries ago—could open a new frontier in innovative materials, thanks to research led at the University of Michigan.

As an art, origami uses simple folding techniques to create intricate designs. Now, researchers are studying the technique as the foundation for next-generation materials that predictably deform and “fold” under the right forces. Such materials would be useful in a wide variety of applications, including running shoes, heart stents and airplane wings.

“Origami has received a lot of attention over the past decade due to its ability to deploy or transform structures,” said James McInerney, lead author of the new study who performed the work as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan. McInerney is now a National Research Council research associate at the Air Force Research Laboratory.

“Our team wondered how different types of folds could be used to control how a material deforms when different forces and pressures are applied to it.”

McInerney and colleagues have introduced a new way of modeling folds to better understand how they can control a material’s properties, which is a deceptively complicated problem.

In principle, the idea is akin to how a creased piece of cardboard folds more predictably than a pristine piece that could buckle in any number of ways under pressure. By introducing folds, then, the researchers can tune how materials respond to force. The applications of that type of control are vast, McInerney said.

“There are a variety of scenarios ranging from the design of buildings, aircraft and naval vessels to the packaging and shipping of goods where there tends to be a trade-off between enhancing the load-bearing capabilities and increasing the total weight,” McInerney said. “Our end goal is to enhance load-bearing designs by adding origami-inspired creases—without adding weight.”

Recently published in Nature Communications, the study also includes Zeb Rocklin, McInerney’s doctoral adviser at the Georgia Institute of Technology; Xiaoming Mao, professor of physics at the University of Michigan; Glaucio Paulino of Princeton University; and Diego Misseroni of the University of Trento.

“Broadly speaking, this origami is an example of ‘metamaterials’ーengineered materials where novel properties are achieved through programming the structure instead of the chemical ingredients,” Mao said. “The geometry of foldingーsimple to achieve in practiceーendows a piece of paper with completely new properties.”

You may read the rest of the article at this link, https://news.umich.edu/how-origami-could-unlock-a-new-class-of-materials/.

More Information:

Professor Xiaoming Mao

Study: Coarse-grained fundamental forms for characterizing isometries of trapezoid-based origami metamaterials (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57089-x)