AUXETIC MATERIALS & THEIR APPLICATIONS

By M S Somanna
(1SG15ME108)
Under the guidance of
Prof. Ram Kumar M

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

SAPTHAGIRI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
CONTENTS
• What is an Auxetic material
• Difference between conventional and Auxetic
materials
• What causes the Auxetic effect?
• Types of auxetic Materials
• Properties and advantages of auxetic material
• Applications of auxetic material
• Conclusion
• References
2
What is an Auxetic material?
• Auxetic materials are those materials that
exhibit a negative poisson's ratio contrary to
normal materials that exhibit positive
Poisson’s ratio.
• Under axial tensile load they become
thicker in their transverse direction.
• And under axial compressive load they
become thinner in their transverse
direction.
• Cause of this effect in auxetic materials is
due to their particular internal structure.

3
Difference between normal
and Auxetic material
Application of axial tensile load
Under axial tensile load normal materials become
thinner in their transverse direction but Auxetic
materials become thicker in their transverse direction.

a) b)

Behavior of Normal material Behavior of Auxetic material

4
Difference between normal
and Auxetic material
Application of axial compressive load
Under axial compressive load normal materials
become thicker in their transverse direction but
Auxetic materials become thicker in their transverse
direction.
a) b)

Behavior of Normal material Behavior of Auxetic material

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Difference between normal
and Auxetic material
Poisson’s Ratio
𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝐷2 −𝐷1 𝐿2 −𝐿1
x= − x= −
𝐷1
/
𝐿1
𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛

Behavior of Normal material Behavior of Auxetic material

• For normal material, D2 < D1 and L2 > L1 . Hence x is + ve

• For auxetic material, D2 > D1 and L2 > L1 . Hence x is - ve
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What causes the Auxetic effect?
Rib

Rib

These structures are dependent on the basic 2-D phenomena

shown on the figure at right. Force in the vertical direction results
in the “opening” of the horizontally placed ribs (like the opening of
an umbrella). This causes the unit cell to expand and contract
during stretching and compressing. This simple mechanism can be
built up to yield a network re-entrant structure.
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Types of auxetic structures

 Re-entrant Structured material.

 Auxetic Foams
 Auxetic Fibre Composites

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RE-ENTRANT STRUCTURED MATERIALS
Un-stretched Stretched Vertical
strut Rib

• Re-entrant means “an angle pointing inwards”. When

used with respect to auxetic materials, it refers to the
angles of the ribs in a unit cell of the structure.
• The unit cell of these structure contain ribs pointed
inwards.
• This is most common type of auxetic structure known
to material engineers. 9
RE-ENTRANT HONEYCOMB STRUCTURE
Production
Compression /
Heating process

Structure of
Structure of auxetic material
normal material

• Re-entrant honeycomb microstructures can be

produced by heating and compressing a normal
material having honeycomb structure.
• Macrostructures can be produced by processes such as
3D printing, EBM etc.
• Raw materials for the structures can be plastics,
polymers or any other suitable materials. 10
RE-ENTRANT HONEYCOMB STRUCTURE
Design parameters
Rib

Vertical
strut

Unit cell

The geometry of the unit cell structure can be described

by four design parameters:
• Length of the vertical strut ( h ).
• Length of the rib ( l ) the re-entrant angle between the
vertical strut and the oblique strut
• The side length of the strut cross section ( t ). 11
 AUXETIC FOAMS
Regular foams processed in a certain manner to exhibit
auxetic properties are called Auxetic foams.
Auxetic foams are usually made of Polyurethane or
metals.

500µm
500µm

Conventional foam Auxetic foam

Conventional foams contain honeycomb like structures

whereas auxetic foams contain re-entrant structures.
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 AUXETIC FOAMS
Production of Auxetic Polyurethane Foam
Tri-axial compression Heating
L
O
A
D

Moulding Cooling

Conventional foam Mould Auxetic foam

• Compression ratio: 1.4 – 4.0

• Heating temperature: Slightly above softening temperature of
foam material. (163°C - 171°C for polyurethane foam)
• Cooling: Up to room temperature.
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 AUXETIC COMPOSITES

• Auxetic fiber reinforcements enhances the failure properties

of composites. Especially the fibre pull-out failure.
• A unidirectional composite loaded in tension will undergo
lateral contraction of the fiber material, leading to failure at
the fiber/matrix interface.
• Auxetic fibers instead get stretched laterally thereby
tightening its bond between the matrices, Improving the
fiber locking ability and reducing chances of failure.
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AUXETIC COMPOSITES

Auxetic fibre locking mechanism is

shown to enable the composite to
carry more than twice the load that
a conventional fibre composite
could carry.

Due to enhanced impact resistance

of auxetic materials, auxetic fibre
composites undergo less damage
compared to conventional fibre
composites. This means auxetic
fibre composites needs to repared
less. 15
Properties and advantages
of Auxetic material

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COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH AND SHEAR STIFFNESS

A material’s elastic behavior is expressed by four

constants: Young’s modulus (E), shear modulus (G), bulk
modulus (K) and Poisson’s ratio (v).
They are related by the following equations.

𝐸 𝐸
𝐺= 𝐾=
2(1 + 𝑣) 3(1 − 2𝑣)

For most structural materials, it is desired to have higher

G than K.
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COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH AND SHEAR STIFFNESS
𝐸
𝐺=
2(1 + 𝑣)
Normal Material Auxetic Material
1.2E+11 1.2E+12
1E+12

Shear Modulus (G)

1E+11
Shear Modulus (G)

8E+10 8E+11
6E+10 6E+11
4E+10 4E+11

2E+10 2E+11

0 0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -0.4 -0.5 -0.6 -0.7 -0.8 -0.9
Poisson's Ratio (v) Poisson's Ratio (v)

For conventional materials, as magnitude of v increases G

decreases. But for auxetic materials, since v is – ve, as
magnitude of v increases G increases as well.
This proves that auxetic materials are difficult to shear
compared to conventional materials. 18
COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH AND SHEAR STIFFNESS
𝐸
𝐾=
3(1 − 2𝑣)
Normal Material Auxetic Material
4E+11 7E+10
3.5E+11 6E+10

Bulk Modulus (K)

Bulk Modulus (K)

3E+11 5E+10
2.5E+11
4E+10
2E+11
3E+10
1.5E+11
1E+11 2E+10
5E+10 1E+10
0 0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 -0.1 -0.2 -0.3 -0.4 -0.5 -0.6 -0.7 -0.8 -0.9 -1
Poisson's Ratio (v) Poisson's Ratio (v)

For conventional materials, as magnitude of v increases K

increases. But for auxetic materials, since v is – ve, as
magnitude of v increases K decreases.
This proves that auxetic materials are easy to deform
volumetrically compared to conventional materials. 19
INDENTATION AND IMPACT RESISTANCE

Magnified view of
auxetic

Normal Auxetic

• When a object hits a normal material the material flows

out of the vicinity of impact.
• But, in case of auxetic material, due to the hinged
structure, material flows inwards. This creates a region
of increased material density, thereby increasing
indentation resistance. 20
 CURVATURE DUE TO BENDING

• When a conventional material is subjected to out of

plane bending, its surface gets stretched and its edges
gets curled upwards forming a saddle shape.
• Whereas an auxetic material would curve inwards and
display double-curvature forming a dome shape.
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 VARIABLE PERMEABILITY

• Auxetic structures posses variable permeability.

• Pores in the structure are opened when stretched and
closed when compressed.
• Pore size can be actively altered by varying the load
applied for stretching or compression.
• This way the permeability can be varied by changing the
load applied. 22
Applications of Auxetic
materials

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 SMART FILTRATION
Pressure pad

Auxetic Membrane

Fluid

• Auxetic structures possess variable permeability hence

auxetic membranes can be used for smart filtration.
• Due to variable permeability, different sizes of particles
can be filtered by varying the tensile/compressive load
applied along the membrane.
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 SMART FILTRATION

Auxetic membranes
enables easier de-fouling
compared to conventional
membranes

• The pores of a non-auxetic filter open up in the

stretching direction but close up in the lateral direction,
leading to poorer filter performance.
• However, stretching an auxetic filter results in the
opening pores in both directions. This enables easier de-
fouling.
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 SPORTS AND PROTECTION

Demonstration of Auxetic Knee Pad Demonstration of Auxetic Helmet

Auxetic foams can be used for coushning in sports protective gears

such as knee pads and helmets due to the following reasons:
• Auxetic foam adapts dome shape configuration, allowing them
to fit curvatures easily.
• They get fatter when stretched, rather than thinner.
• During impact they absorb the impact energy and provide extra
support during sudden collisions.
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 DEFENCE

• Auxetic composite panels can be fitted on the undercarriage of an

armored vehicle to enhance the ballistic and impact resistance
capabilities of armored vehicles.
• Auxetic materials can also be used in armored vests and leg pads to
absorb impact energy of a bullet hitting the vest or pads. Therefore
becoming a potential life saver.
• Auxetic foams can be wrapped around airborne cargo drops,
providing cushioning to the cargo drop package when it hits the
ground. 27
Conclusion
• This seminar presentation has covered aspects of auxetic materials
that are considered most relevant to engineering applications.
• The potential exists to develop auxetic-based composites and
related technologies for applications such as defense and sports
having reduced cost, materials usage, and improved performance
envelopes (impact, failure resistance, energy absorption, complex
curvatures, structural health monitoring, and adaptive and
deployable structures) leading to reduced fuel consumptions and
enhancing protection.
• Several research groups such as Engineering and Physical Science
Research Council (UK), Auxetic Materials Research Group (Sheffield
Hallam University) and Structural Bio-mechanics Research Group
(Imperial College London UK) have studied and conducted research
on auxetic materials and have contributed to much knowledge
regarding auxetic materials.
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References
[1] A Alderson et al, Auxetic materials. Centre forMaterials Research and
Innovation, The University of Bolton, Bolton, UK.
[2] Royale S Underhill, Defense Applications of Auxetic Materials. Dept. of
Defense Research and Development, Canada.
[3] Gabriele Imbalzano et al, Three-dimensional modelling of auxetic sandwich
panels for localised impact resistance. Journal of Sandwich Structures and
Materials.
[4] Olly Duncan et al, Review of Auxetic Materials for Sports Applications.
Review, Applied science. MDPI Journals.
[5] Xin Ren et al, Auxetic metamaterials and structures: A review. Topical Review,
Smart Materials and Structures. IOP Publishing.
[6] Riccardo La Magna et al, Tailoring the Bending Behaviour of Material
Patterns for the Induction ofDoubleCurvature. University of Stuttgart. Research
Gate Journals.
[7] Chidire Anurag et al, Auxetic Materials. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR
TRENDS IN ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY VOLUME 5 ISSUE 2.
[8] https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=168
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxetics 29
Thank You

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