  A novel strongly nonlinear laminar metamaterial supporting new types of
solitary and shock waves with impact energy mitigating capabilities is
presented. It consists of steel plates with intermittent polymer toroidal rings
acting as strongly nonlinear springs with large allowable strain. Their
force-displacement relationship is described by the addition of two power-law
relationships resulting in a solitary wave speed and width depending on the
amplitude. This double nonlinearity allows splitting of an initial impulse into
two separate strongly nonlinear solitary wave trains. Solitary and shock waves
are observed experimentally and analyzed numerically in an assembly with Teflon
o-rings.
