Wave based manipulation and reading of mechanical memory in a mass-in-mass metamaterial

Mechanical metamaterials composed of bistable elements have recently gained attention as promising candidates for platforms that support mechanical memory. In recent work, the mass-in-mass metamaterial, which features bistable inclusions that are statically decoupled yet dynamically switchable, has been an effective platform at encoding mechanical information in response to specific nonlinear boundary inputs. Here, we show that by carefully designing the bistable energy landscapes, we can program interesting functionalities into the metamaterial, such as sensing of mechanical load history, energy absorption, and wave filtration. Furthermore, through the design of the bistable energy landscapes, we propose a strategy to dynamically read the state of the metamaterial using low-amplitude waves. This approach leverages the complex interactions of dynamically excited bistable elements and the versatility of wave-based actuation to open a new avenue for writing and reading mechanical memory.