Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

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Computational Materials Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/commatsci

Seeing auxetic materials from the mechanics point of view: A structural review
on the negative Poissons ratio
Yunan Prawoto
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 28 December 2011
Received in revised form 7 February 2012
Accepted 7 February 2012
Available online 8 March 2012
Keywords:
Poissons ratio
Auxetic materials
Periodic microstructure
Disordered microstructure
Homogenization

a b s t r a c t
This paper summarizes research work related to materials with zero, or negative Poissons ratio, materials which are also referred to as auxetic materials. This review puts an emphasis on computations and
aspects of their mechanics. It also considers diverse examples: from large structural, to biomedical applications. It is concluded that auxetic materials are technologically and theoretically important. While the
development of the research has been dominated by periodic/ordered microstructures, the author predicts that future research will be in the direction of disordered microstructures utilizing the homogenization method.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Although normal materials contract when they are stretched,
auxetic materials are opposite: they expand laterally when stretched
longitudinally. In a book published in 1944, Love described a material with negative Poissons ratio [1]. According to the knowledge of
the author, that is the rst engineering mechanics fact nding
recorded, although materials with either negative or zero Poissons
ratio may have been known to exist more than a 100 years ago.
The next documented evidence of an auxetic material was found
38 years after that, in 1982 by Gibson [2,3]. He realized the auxetic
effect in the form of the two-dimensional silicone rubber or aluminum honeycombs deforming by exure of the ribs.
The intentional development of the concept was rst published in Science magazine in 1987 by Lakes 5 years after Gibsons
nding [4,5]. In his publication, Lakes did not use the term auxetic to refer to these materials. This terminology came 4 years
later, in 1991. The word is derived from the word atvgsijo1
(read: auxetikos), which means that which tends to increase
and which has its roots in the word atvg1i1 (read: auxesis),
which is the noun form of increase. This terminology was
coined by Evans et al., when they rst fabricated the microphorous polyethylene with negative Poissons ratio [68]. The concept
development and subsequently the fabrication of this prototype
provided the momentum for the modern day auxetic material,
which is the object of this review.
Tel.: +60 167 279048; fax: +60 755 66159.
E-mail address: yunan.prawoto@gmail.com
0927-0256/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.commatsci.2012.02.012

In his publication in 1999, Alderson claimed to have introduced

the novel elastic property with a negative Poissons ratio that characterizes an auxetic material. Such a material becomes thicker
widthwise when stretched lengthwise, and thinner when compressed. This is apparently contradictory to the response of many
common materials, which become thinner when stretched.
In 2004, Yang et al. [9] focused their review on molecular auxetics, paying attention more to molecular designs with a view towards
nanotechnology. As a complement to their reviews and also some
other available reviews, e.g. [10], which reviews the subject with
the intention of the incorporation into the undergraduate curriculum, the present paper covers more a general understanding from
the mechanics point of view and especially incorporating developments since their publications [9,10]. Alderson also reviewed
developments in the modeling, design, manufacturing, testing,
and potential applications of auxetic cellular solids, polymers, composites, and sensor/actuator devices in aerospace engineering [11].
Although not directly discussing auxetic materials, the most recent review on this subject was published in Nature Materials, entitled Poissons ratio and modern materials. It was published at a
time when the present manuscript was being submitted for publication [12]. It mainly discusses the Poissons ratio. The auxetic
material is only part of the example of the larger topics of Poissons
ratio. That review accentuates the importance of auxetic materials
in modern engineering applications.
Reviews on this subject are available from long ago, e.g.
[12,13,911]. However, none of them focuses on its mechanics.
In contrast with the available reviews, the present review focuses
on the mechanics of auxetic materials.

Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

141

The aim of this short review is to give some bases for the understanding of the mechanics of auxetic materials, and report on the
research works over the past two decades, especially their
mechanical and computational aspects. It hopes to stimulate more
research works on this subject matter.
2. Poissons ratio in the mechanics of materials
Poissons Ratio is so named because it was invented by Simeon
Dennis Poisson (21 June 178725 April 1840) [14], a mathematical
genius who was born in Pithiviers, France. It is dened as the ratio
of transverse contraction strain to longitudinal extension strain
with respect to the direction of stretching force applied. Tensile
deformation is considered positive and compressive deformation
is considered negative. The denition of Poissons ratio contains a
minus sign, so that normal materials have a positive ratio. It is usually represented by the lower case Greek nu, m.
Almost all common engineering materials have positive Poissons ratio, having a gure of close to 0.3 for most materials and
slightly less than 0.5 for rubbery materials [12,15]. It is logical to
think that Poissons ratio is typically positive. This agrees with
the microstructural point of view, whereby the reason for the usual
positive Poissons ratio is that inter-atomic bonds realign with
deformation. In order to do that, the system tends to maintain its
density, resulting in contraction in the lateral direction. The correlation between the Poissons ratio and the atomic packing density
is known: for materials that are atomically dense, such as gold,
typically their Poissons ratio ? isotropic upper limit, which is
0.5, while crystalline metals that are atomically less densely
packed, such as steels, have their Poissons ratio 0.3. Naturally,
to compare common crystal structures, face centered cubic, hexagonal closed packed, body centered cubic, and cubic diamond, their
Poissons ratios would be in sequence: mfcc,hcp P mbcc P mcd [16]. The
same reason and mechanism make the typical value of Poissons
ratio for ceramics, glass, and semi-conductors become 0.250.42
[1720].
Most engineering materials have a higher shear modulus G
than their bulk modulus K. By changing the microstructure of a
material in such a way that the Poissons ratio m is lower, the values of K and G can be altered if E is kept constant. Naturally,
decreasing the value of m to zero or below would result in a high
shear modulus G relative to the bulk modulus K that can be
obtained.
From the continuum mechanics point of view, most materials
resist a change in volume as determined by the bulk modulus K
more than they resist a change in shape, as determined by the
shear modulus G. Meanwhile, the relation between E, G, and K is
as follows [21,19]:

E
2 1 m

E
3 1  2m

Fig. 1. Graphical
h
i description of the relation between the Poissons ratio and the
1m
value of 12
m for conventional structural materials.

This restricts a conventional structural material to have its Poissons ratio to be m P 1/8. For a Poissons ratio to be m 6 0, the value
of the bulk modulus must be much less than the shear modulus,
K  G. Meanwhile, Eq. (3) can also be expressed as:

2G 1 m K 1  2m

or

3K  2G
2G 6K

Eq. (6) is graphically depicted in Fig. 2. The gure also shows the
contour line of m = 0. While classical mechanics treats Poissons ratio as a static component, a dynamic approach is also available. Another point of view for expressing Poissons ratio is by the speeds of
sound [19]:
1
2

 2
Vt
V

md  l 2
Vt
Vl

1
7
1

where Vt is the transversal speed or shear wave velocity, Vl is the

longitudinal speed traveling in the particular material, and md is
the dynamic Poissons ratio. As an example, a liquid with a transversal speed of Vt = 0 would have a Poissons ratio of 0.5, according to
Eq. (7). Another restriction using the concept of Rayleigh wave
length is also available. The ratio of the Rayleigh wave velocity to

and

Combining Eqs. (1) and (2), the following is obtained:


1 m
3K

1  2m
2G

A graphical depiction of this relationship is shown in Fig. 1. For

conventional structural engineering materials, the values of K are
typically larger than the values of G, which leads to


1 m
3
P
1  2m
2

Fig. 2. Graphical description of the relation between the Poissons ratio and the
value of K and G.

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Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

the shear wave velocity, a VVRt , depends only on the value of Poissons ratio of the medium, and it can be found as the admissible, real
and positive root of the following equation [22]:

a6  8a4 8


2  md 2
8
a 
0
1  md
1  md

Again, this concept prevents Poissons ratio from being negative.

In general, Poissons ratio does not have an effect on the distribution of stresses in plane elasticity problems that do not involve
body forces. For anisotropic materials, multiple Poissons ratios
need to be expressed. Furthermore, for orthotropic elastic materials, six Poissons ratios are dened, see Fig. 3 [2325]. Although
elasticity theory does not impose limits on Poissons ratios for such
materials, there is a specic inequality derived from energy considerations. For Poissons ratios dened in other directions, some unusual values may be obtained. In fact, Ting and Chen have
theoretically shown that Poissons ratio for anisotropic materials
can have either a positive or a negative value as long as the strain
energy density is positive [26,27].
While skeptics may say that thermodynamics restricts the compressibility of an elastic material to be positive for stability and as a
result Poissons ratio can never be negative, the fact is that many
researchers have proven experimentally and computationally that
it is possible to have a material with negative or zero Poissons ratio, e.g. [6,7,26,27,8,12,2831]. Despite its controversial values and
concepts of Poissons ratio, one thing is sure: Poissons ratio is a
very interesting property for researchers and engineers alike who
work with applied mechanics. Furthermore, Poissons ratio has also
inspired material scientists and engineers to create new materials,
including auxetic ones.
3. Natural and man-made auxetic materials
3.1. Are there any natural auxetic materials?
This has been the common question over the past decades starting in 1944, when Love reported a natural auxetic material, which
was quite controversial [1]. Although he suggested that this special
paradoxical value might be due to twinning of particular crystals,
some researchers say there are, while others say there are not.
The rst group includes researchers who believe that auxetic materials are: cancellous bones, living cat skin, cow teat skin, some natural minerals such as a-Cristobalite (SiO2), pyrolytic graphites,

single crystals such as pyrite (FeS2), and some types of zeolites

such as siliceous zeolite MFI-Silicalites [32,33,28,3439]. However,
the majority of the experts in classical mechanics still belong to the
latter group because of the reason discussed previously, e.g., see
Eqs. (7) and (8).
While the existence of natural auxetic materials remains controversial from the perspective of traditional mechanics, manmade auxetic materials have been produced for some time. Cellular solids such as polymer or metallic foams with inverted or re-entrant cell structures, and anisotropic brous composites, are
among the examples of man-made auxetic materials. They are
microstructurally engineered [30,8,12,4,13,10,6,7], and are also
proven to be highly resistant to shear deformations but easy to deform volumetrically, i.e., the shear modulus, G, is much greater
than the bulk modulus, K, see Eqs. (1) and (2). Fig. 4 shows a basic
depiction of examples of the auxetic materials extracted from several publications [4045].
4. Classication of auxetic materials based on mechanics and
microstructural morphology
4.1. Mechanism and structure
The typical mechanism of man-made auxetic materials is
shown in Fig. 5. When a load is applied to the structure in one
direction (e.g., vertically), the structure expands in the perpendicular direction. Therefore, the structure gets fatter, resulting in a
negative Poissons ratio.
Various auxetic materials have been discovered and fabricated
over the past decades, ranging from the macroscopic to microscopic and to the molecular levels. The following classication is
mainly a classication via mechanical considerations. The author
classies also for computational purposes; almost all of them are
based on this simple mechanism that is treated as a unit cell leading to a global stiffening effect. Readers interested in a classication based on the materials are advised to refer elsewhere
[46,10,47].
4.2. Re-entrant structure
The adjective re-entrant here means (of an angle in a polygon)
greater than 180o (negative angle) and thus pointing inwards, similar to that used in mathematics [48]. Gibson, Ashby, Evans, and

Fig. 3. Denition of the elastic moduli and Poissons ratio in isotropic and orthotropic materials [23].

Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

143

Fig. 7. The basic unit cell for re-entrant geometry analyzed by Lira et al. [50].

and

h
E1 j
Fig. 4. Examples of several auxetic structures extracted from several publications
[4045].

Fig. 5. The basic mechanism of man-made auxetic materials.


10

where h, l, b, and h are as dened in Fig. 6, j = Esb(t/l)3 and E is the

intrinsic Youngs modulus.
While the early development of this type was dominated by
analytical approaches, several researchers also added some computational approaches to their analytical ones, especially in more
recent publications. Lira et al. are among those that incorporated
their analytical technique with nite element analysis [50]. They
evaluated the transverse shear properties of a centersymmetric
honeycomb structure using analytical and nite element models.
The cellular structure features a unit cell geometry that allows
in-plane auxetic deformations, and multiple topologies to design
the honeycomb for multifunctional applications. The out-of-plane
properties are calculated using a theoretical approach based on
Voigt and Reuss theories. Their honeycomb topology provides ve
sets of geometric parameters, enabling the material designer to
engineer optimum and multifunctional cellular cores. Fig. 7 shows
the unit cell of the re-entrant structure evaluated. Their analytical
formulas can be used to perform a parametric analysis for the design of the cores in classical and multifunctional sandwich constructions [51,50]:

m12

Fig. 6. The basic hexagonal unit cell used to describe some re-entrant geometry
[2,116].

sin h
b cos3 h
l

sin ha sin h 2c sin u

cos hcos h 2c cos u

11

By setting the angle h to be a re-entrant (negative) angle, Bezazi

and Lira carried out their analytical approaches, which were supported by computation.
4.3. Polymeric structure

Alderson are among the pioneers working on this geometry [49,2].

Fig. 6 shows the basic principle of the structure. Theoretically, the
alignment of the diagonal ribs along the horizontal direction, when
stretched longitudinally, causes them to move apart along the vertical direction, resulting in the expansion of the lateral movement.
Referring to Fig. 6, Poissons ratio and Youngs modulus in the loading direction are given by

m12



sin h hl sin h
cos2 h

The characteristics of this type of structure can be interpreted

by a simple 2D model, as shown in Fig. 8 [6,7,52]. They consist of
interconnected networks of nodules and brils. If a tensile load is
applied, the brils cause lateral nodule translation, leading to a
negative Poissons ratio. A series of auxetic polymeric materials
have been produced in the form of foams, bers, and composites.
Many molecular-level auxetic polymers have also been synthesized. Fig. 9 shows one of the examples of polyurethane foam, both
regular and auxetic [43]. Referring to Fig. 9, Grima explains that the
auxetic foam consists of chains of rigid rod molecules connected by

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Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

Fig. 8. The basic mechanism of polymer auxetic materials [6,7,52].

Fig. 9. Example of polyurethane foams (left: conventional and right: auxetic) [43].

exible spacer groups along the chain lengths. The exible spacer
groups are attached to the ends of some of the rigid rods connected
terminally or laterally. In the relaxed state, all the rigid rods are
oriented along the chain directions. Auxetic behavior occurs when
there is a rotation of the laterally attached rods upon stretching of
the foam. This agrees with the basic concept highlighted by He
et al. [53]. Interestingly, this type of foam can be produced easily
in any laboratory from commercially available conventional foams
through a process involving volumetric compression, heating it beyond its softening temperature, and then cooling it while under
compression [43], also see the Appendix for the technique formulated by Lakes back in 1984 [4]. Analytical and computational approaches to this type of structure are difcult to nd if available at
all.

Fig. 10. Basic model of the unit cell for chiral structure analysis used by Prall and
Lakes [54].

TL
6Es I

13

Es t 3 d
/
2L

14

4.4. Chiral structure

or

The adjective chiral here originally meant a molecule that is not

superimposable on its mirror image, or a particle surrounded by
unique groups attached to it [48]. The original etymology is jiq
(kheir) meaning hand. However, researchers in this area use
the terminology to mean a physical property of spinning. Based
on the authors observations, this type of structure is the most
actively researched, especially from the mechanical and computational point of views. According to the theoretical and
experimental investigations performed by Prall and Lakes [54],
the Poissons ratio of a chiral structure for in-plane deformations
can be tailored to be around 1, see Fig. 4 bottom left. Their analytical basis is summarized in Fig. 10 [54]. With simple mechanics,
they analyzed the deformation, e, to be:

e r  sin /

Another pioneer in this structure is Wojciechowski, who published his rst research on this subject back in 1987 [55]. He and
his group have been very actively researching this material even
until today [5667]. They have been followed by other researchers
such as Ishibashi and Iwata [68], Bornengo et al. [69], Spadoni et al.
[70], Vasiliev [71], Grima [72], and Milton [73].
The chiral based structure has developed into various shapes
from around 2005. Grima et al. published their research on auxetic

e1 r/  cos h

12

e2 r/  sin h
in which, for small deection, r sin/ r/ and h = 30o. By using the
elementary beam theory, if the thickness is t, the deection eventually becomes:

1 3
where I 12
t d. The strains, therefore, become:

r
R
r
/
R

e1 /
e2

15

Poissons ratios can then be calculated as:

e2
e1
e
m21  1
e2
m12 

16

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Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

the Youngs modulus E are independent of the direction of the loading. Furthermore, they developed star-shaped structures from general isosceles triangles, see Fig. 13. For their systems, Poissons
ratios for loading in the Ox1 or Ox2 are:

m21 m1
12



b cos a 2h acos 2h



tan 2a 2h bsin a 2h a sin


h
2

18

This equation shows that one can adjust the Poissons ratio by
adjusting the values of both a and h. Eq. (18) can be easily derived
from the trigonometric relation of:

b
2a

h
h
2a  sin
X 1 2b  sin a
2
2

a cos1

19
20

and

h
X 2 2a  cos a
2

21

and

mij 

dej
dei

22

where a, X1, X2 are as shown in Fig. 12.

Fig. 11. (a) The structures of NAT, EDI and THO in the (0 0 1) plane (shown here are
the conformation with the rigid tetrahedral) and the off-axis plots for (b) Poissons
ratios, (c) Youngs moduli and (d) shear moduli in the (0 0 1) plane for NAT
frameworks of different rigidity [75].

behaviour from rotating rigid units [41,43], Attard and Grima

published from a rotating rhombi [74], and rotating tetrahedra
[75]. They made an analysis of the role of the tetrahedra found in
the frameworks of the predicted auxetic zeolites natrolite (NAT),
thomsonite (THO), and edingtonite (EDI) for generating auxeticity.
This related the theoretical human-made chiral with the natural
zeolites. Fig. 11 shows their major ndings, where the threedimensional tetrahedra in the zeolite framework are perfectly rigid
and simply rotate relative to each other. Then their 2D projected
behavior in the (0 0 1) plane becomes equivalent to the idealized
two-dimensional rotating squares model with a Poissons ratio of
1. Their works are signicant because they were the rst to be
able to provide a link between the modeling approach, which considers only the 2D projected framework of NAT in the auxetic
(0 0 1) plane, with a more realistic approach involving the tetrahedra, thus showing that modeling approaches are complementary
and not conicting with each other.
Although more research works on this chiral structure are available, the above publications are representative of those from the
mechanical point of view.
4.5. Star-shape structure
Theocaris was among the rst to propose the star-shaped
microstructure. He used the numerical homogenization approach
in his research [76]. Other researchers working on this structures
are Grima, Gatt, Ellul, and Chetcuti [77,78]. Fig. 12 shows the
mechanism of the auxetic characteristics of this type of structure
[77]. Referring to the gure, the Poissons ratio is 1, while their
analytical Youngs modulus is:

p
4 3K h


a2 1 cos p3 h


17

where a is the length of the sides, h is the hinging angle, and Kh is

the force constant due to hinging. Both the Poissons ratio m and

4.6. Other (ordered and disordered) structures

The ones belonging to this group are: square, triangular and
rectangular or their combination. Grima, Manicaro, and Attard
are among the ones working on the ordered structures involving
different-sized squares and rectangles [44]. The same group also
works on rectangles with different connectivities [44]. Recently,
there has also been work on disordered structures. Blumenfeld
and Edwards are among the very few researchers working on disordered structures [79]. In the authors opinion, the disordered
structure approach will be the main topic of interest for research
in the near future, e.g. [80].
Of more than a hundred papers read by the author, most of the
modeling of auxetic materials have been mainly based on ordered
structures, despite the existence of auxetic behavior in disordered
structures. Therefore, in this subsection, more emphasis is put on
disordered structures: the former structures (periodic/ordered triangle, rectangle, square and their combination) are here omitted.
The work of Blumenfeld is based on three auxetons shown in
Fig. 14. Their global auxetic behaviour is the result of local folding
and unfolding of auxetons when stressed. Fig. 15 depicts the mathematical model of the disordered combination of the auxetons
[79]. In doing so, they use the fabric tensor Qij, which plays an
important role in modeling auxetic strains, and also vectors for
each auxetons edge, rcg, and Rcg, a vector that extends from the
centroid of each auxeton. They further show that the tensor
appearing in the isostaticity stress equations are the symmetrical
part of Ccg, summed over the cells:

Qg


1 1 X
 
C cg C cg T  
2

23

cg cg
p

where C cg
ij r i Rj and  is the 2 rotation matrix in the plane (the
Levi- Civita matrix) and CT is the transpose of C. Eventually, the total
strain can be written as:

g
g
g
g
ecg
ij Eijkl rkl Q ijkl hkl r

24

where the rst term Egijkl rgkl is the expansion strain and the second
term Q gijkl hkl rg is the strain due to rotation [79]. Subsequently,
Poissons ratio can be calculated conveniently.

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Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

Fig. 12. Example of star-shaped auxetic structure. Stretching of these systems result in an increase in the angle h between the triangles which results in a more open
structure. Note that if these systems are viewed from the perspective of the empty spaces (unshaded) between the triangles (shaded), then these systems can be described
either in terms of their star shaped perforations, or triangular shaped perforations in the special case when the angles between the triangles is 60 (the middle structure) [77].

Fig. 13. A more general connected triangles system constructed out of isosceles
triangles rather than equilateral triangles [77].

Fig. 14. auxetons made of three-contact building blocks used by Blumenfeld. Each
auxeton can expand and rotate when forces are applied to its ends [79].

5. The use of auxetic materials

Taking advantage of the characteristics of auxetic materials,
suitable applications of the auxetic materials are enormous. Studies and experiments have demonstrated that auxetic materials can
improve mechanical properties, including shear resistance, hardness value (indentation resistance), fracture toughness, fatigue
crack propagation, etc., as compared to the conventional materials
from which they are made. In general, applications of auxetic
materials are good mainly in the eld, where either one of the followings are needed:







Poissons ratio being negative or zero.

Large shear resistance.
Hardness improvement.
Lower fatigue crack propagation.
Large toughness and modulus resilience.
Vibration absorption.

Fig. 15. A section of a disordered auxetic structure, made of joining auxetons at

their contacts. The contacts are joined by straight lines (blue dashed) into a triangle
[79].

lead to intelligent textiles having anti-inammatory and anti-odor

effects [81]. Avellanada has used it for piezoelectric sensors [82].
Friis et al. see its potential in surgical implants [83]. It also has
more structural potential, such as in vanes for aircraft gas turbine
engines [29,84], or other military devices from helmets to sonar
receivers [85,86]. He reported in his patent that auxetic polymer
is preferred to a non-auxetic for piezoelectric composites
consisting of piezoelectric ceramic rods, due to the auxetic matrixs
converting the compressive planar stress into a compressive
longitudinal stress and therefore strengthens the incident vertical
compressive stress. Skeptics may say that there are not many other
applications related to mechanics, but most applications are less
used for stress carrying materials so far. However, in the authors
opinion its potential is quite promising.
5.1. Limitations
Generally, auxetic materials need substantial porosity. Therefore, this type of material is less stiff than the solids from which
they are made. Eventually, this causes limitations on the structural
applications of the materials with negative Poissons ratio [87].
Consequently, for applications that require substantial load-bearing, they are not the best choice.
6. Analytical and computational aspects
6.1. Constants inuencing computational approach

Table 1 summarizes the applications summarized from various

research works [81,11,82,83,13,84,29]. In the textile industry,
Alderson proposed and tested the use of an auxetic fabric formed
by auxetic laments or yarns to deliver active agents that could

6.1.1. Elastic moduli

The consequences of the Poissons ratios being negative include
signicant changes in Youngs modulus E and the Shear modulus G.

Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

147

Table 1
Summary of the applications of the auxetic materials (in alphabetical order) [81,11,82,83,13,84,29].
Field

(Existing and potential) Application and the rationale

Aerospace
Automotive
Biomedical

Vanes for gas turbine engine, thermal protection, aircraft nose-cones, wing panel, sounds and vibration absorber, rivet
Bumper, cushion, thermal protection, sounds and vibration absorber parts that need shear resistant, fastener
Bandage, wound pressure pad, dental oss, articial blood vessel (the wall thickness increases when a pulse of blood ows through
it), articial skin, drug release unit, ligament anchors. Surgical implants (similar to that of bone characteristics)
Fiber reinforcement (because it reduce the cracking between ber and matrix)
Helmet, bullet proof vest, knee pad, gloce, protective gear (better impact property)

Composite
Military
(defence)
Sensors/
actuators
Textile
Industry

Hydrophone, piezoelectric devices, various sensors (the low bulk modulus makes them more sensitive to hydrostatic pressure)
Fibers, functional fabric, color-change straps or fabrics, threads

Referring to Eq. (1), one can immediately obtain the higher resistance to shear strain, G, caused by twisting or tearing forces
[88,21,19]. Practically, the material would become highly compressible but difcult to shear; low E, high G.
Choi was among the rst to explicitly calculate the elastic modulus of an auxetic material. He used the model of the re-entrant
foam as shown in Fig. 16 [89]. Starting from the simple principle
of Egli [90], he used the relationship
  n between the density ratio

and Youngs modulus ratio, EEs / qq , where the subcript (s) is
s
the solid, and the superscript () means the cellular. With some
mathematical manipulations, he was able to use it via the volume
change ratio.
Meanwhile, the Castigliano principle was also used:

dp

n
@U X

@P
i

Z
z

M i @M i
dz
EI @P

25

where U is the strain energy, Mi is the bending moment exerted at

each beam, E is Youngs modulus, I is the area moment of inertia,
and n is the number of beams in the structure. Based on the free
body diagram shown in Fig. 16, the bending moment of each component was then calculated. Using Eq. (25), Youngs modulus of the
conventional foam becomes:

2
Ec
q
0:88 c
Es
qs

26

For the re-entrant foam in the same gure, the value becomes
[89]:

2
Er
Hu
1
qc
p

0:05
Ju 1 sin 2  u qs
Ec

27

where H(u), J(u) are geometrical functions of the particular re-entrant form.
6.1.2. Material hardness
The traditional hardness test is based on the resistance to
indentation. The following equation describes their relation:

E
H
1  m2

c
28

where c is a constant to which the load is applied. For uniform pressure, c is 1. When a non-auxetic material is subjected to hardness
testing, the force compresses the material, and the material compensates by spreading in the directions perpendicular to and away
from the direction of the impact. However, when the hardness
indentor is applied to an auxetic material, the auxetic material will
contract laterally. The material ows into (compresses towards) the
vicinity of the impact, as shown in Figure 17. This creates an area of
denser material, which is more resistant to indentation. Therefore,
the hardness of an auxetic material is higher. Fig. 17 shows the
graphical depiction of this mechanism [10,47]. Experimental

Fig. 16. The basic free body diagram (FBD) assumption for regular tetrakaidecahedron (left) and re-entrant unit cell (right) proposed by Choi [89].

investigation showed that re-entrant foams had higher yield

strength rY and less stiffness E than conventional foams with the
same original relative density. It has also been further proven that
re-entrant foams density increases under indentation due to the increase in shear stiffness [91].
6.1.3. Fracture mechanics characteristics
Fig. 18 shows the crack growth observation done by Maiti [92].
Liu discussed in detail the fracture mechanics side of auxetic materials by citing Maitis works [52]. The non-singular stress eld at
the distance r for a middle crack of 2a with crack tip radius rtip
and stress intensity factor KI is [52,93,94]:

r 

I
I
p tip
r p
2p r
2pr 2r

29

148

Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

K rIc
0:53
K Ic

q


1 sin p2  u

37

1 cos 2u

where K rIc is fracture toughness of the re-entrant foam.

6.2. Numerical analysis with hierarchical structure
Fig. 17. The basic mechanism deformation behaviors near the hardness indentor
tips [10,47].

Fig. 18. Crack propagation observed by Maiti. (a) Is through the bending failure on
the non-vertical cell elements and (b) is through the tensile fracture of the vertical
cell elements [92].

There is a moderately high number of papers discussing computational approaches to the study of auxetic materials, e.g. [50,95
97]. Here, the author limits the review to multi-level ones, because
it is believed that this type of approach will become the major
trend in the near future.
6.2.1. Unit cell
Almost all computational approaches reviewed use the unit cell
concept, directly or indirectly, for calculation. Many of them are in
the form of testing the analytical approaches they developed. Take
Scarpas work for example [97]. Fig. 19 shows the unit cell Scarpa
used. In his research, he combined analytical, numerical, and
experimental analysis on the compressive strength of hexagonal
chiral honeycombs due to elastic buckling of the unit cells under
atwise compressive loading. His analytical elastic collapse for
the hexagonal chiral cell was:

b
Ec

p
4b2
p K b b0:8 K a a
31  m2c 8p 3 3a2

38

Subsequently, the force acting on the cell rib is:

r tip

rtip
2


KI
K I r 
p p tip r tip dr
2pr
2pr 2r

30

Furthermore, with the thickness of the rib being t, and the rst
order of the Taylor expansion, Eq. (30) is simplied to:

F 2:38

K I

l t
p
p l

31

K I is the stress intensity of the conventional foams and l is the rib

length. The stress due to the bending moment is given by:

F 2:12

Fl
:
t3

32

Substituting Eq. (31) the stress becomes:

2
l
t

1
F 5:05 K I p

33

The crack propagation takes place when r P rf, where rf is the

fracture strength of the cell rib. The critical stress intensity factor
or the fracture toughness can therefore be calculated as:

K I

p t
2
0:20rf pl
l

34

 n

Using the relation of qq / tl , the stress intensity factor is pros
portional to the normalized density:

K I
q
p 0:19
qs
rf pl

6.2.2. Homogenization
Several introductory variations of the homogenization theory
are available, but they are beyond the scope of this review. However, for the sake of the readers convenience, part of the authors
previously published introduction is simplied and used [98], see
the Appendix. Theocaris, Lee, and Choi were among the rst to
use homogenization theory in auxetic materials research. Lee and
Choi applied homogenization using commercial code in their research using regular and re-entrant structures, while Theocaris
used it for star-shaped structures [99,76]. Similar to Eqs. (A-3)
and (A-11), Choi formulated his equation into:

lim
e!0

Ux; ydX

1
jYj

Z

Xx; ydY dX

39

They concluded that the microscale integration could be replaced by an average value integration for a general Y periodic
function U. Recalling the weak form of linear elasticity problem nite element:

Eijkl

@uk @ v i
dX
@xi @xj

bi v i dX

t i v i dC

40

35
They then obtained the homogenized elasticity tensor EH (see
also Appendix for the basic Homogenization method for auxetic
materials):

For the re-entrant structure, a similar value becomes:

K Ic
p 0:10
rf pl

where Kb is 7.2 and Ka is 0.08. The equation was then compared

with the computational results as shown in Fig. 20. The result of
the unit cell can then be used as data to perform a larger scale computation, provided they have the correct boundary condition. This is
the basic idea of homogenization.

q


1 sin p2  u q

1 cos 2u

qs

36

Eijkl

jYj

Z
Y

!
@ vkl
p
dY
Eijkl  Eijkl
@yq

41

K Ic

where
is the fracture toughness of re-entrant foams and u is the
rib angle (see Fig. 18).
Experimentally, Choi showed that for his re-entrant foam, the
following was observed:

where vkl
p is the microscale parameter. Conveniently, the effective
elastic modulus, Ee, and Poissons ratio, me, can be obtained from
the plane stress assumption as follows:

Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

149

Fig. 19. Unit cell used by Scarpa. left: based for analytical approach, right: brick element to model the computation [97].

and

E 

1
jVj

e dV

43

Periodic boundary condition over the unit-cell leads displacement eld u such as:

u Ex v 8x 2 V

44

with v a periodic uctuation. It takes the same value at two homologous points on opposite faces of V, whereas the traction vector
t = r  n takes opposite values, n being the normal vector. By applying either macroscopic strain or stress, one can compute the effective elastic moduli fourth-rank tensor C and compliance tensor S of
materials:

RC:EES:R
Fig. 20. Comparison between FE and analytical non-dimensional collapse stress
used by Scarpa [97].

EH1111

6 H
4 E2211

EH1122
EH2222

7
0 5
EH1212

E 6
4 me
1  m2e
0

me
1
0

0 7
5

1me
2

Based on their studies on using a homogenization technique,

they concluded that matrix material properties do not signicantly
affect Poissons ratio of the regular and re-entrant honeycomb
structure. Youngs modulus of the regular honeycomb structure increases with volume fraction. The regular honeycomb structure
has a decreasing Poissons ratio, with an increasing volume fraction. The re-entrant structure has its m value dependent on the inverted angle of the cell edge. Youngs modulus of the re-entrant
honeycomb structure decreases with an increase in the inverted
angle.
Another work worth presenting here is that of Dirrenberger
[95]. He analyzed three auxetic periodic lattices. The elastic moduli
were computed and its anisotropy was investigated by using the
nite element method combined with the numerical homogenization technique. Similar to the work of Choi, Dirrenberger used
homogenization in the form of macroscopic stress and strain
tensors R and E dened by the spatial averages:

R 

1
jVj

Z
V

r dV

42

45

Dirrrenberger evaluated the elastic moduli of three periodic

auxetic lattices: hexachiral, rotachiral, and tetra-antichiral. The
hexachiral was found to possess high in-plane elastic moduli and
a Poissons ratio close to 1. With its circular (or elliptic) ligaments, the auxetic rotachiral lattice provides a parameter for tuning the microstructure for specic absorption properties. This
lattice can exhibit a highly negative Poissons ratio when loaded
out-of-plane. The orthotropy of the tetra-antichiral lattice was
found to have a higher stiffness E in the principal directions of
the cell. For this microstructure, the auxetic effects in the plane
are restricted to short angle intervals around the principal
directions.
Pasternak and Dyskin also used the homogenization concept in
their research [100]. They showed that a multiscale distribution of
spherical inclusions with a Poissons ratio having a different sign
from that of the elastic isotropic matrix can increase (up to two
orders of magnitude) the effective Youngs modulus considerably,
even when the Youngs moduli of the matrix and the inclusions
are the same.
The author believes that the homogenization concept is very
useful when pursuing a computational approach in this area,
regardless of the fact that many researchers did not use it
intentionally.
7. Experimental approach
The main experimental approaches in auxetic material research
remain the challenge of prototype making and its mechanical characterization. The rst experimental approach used was that of

150

Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

Lakes [4]. For the readers convenience, his technique is appended

to this article as the Appendix.
In 1991, Alderson and Evans also published their method of fabrication of microporous polyethylene having a negative Poissons
ratio [101]. Their method involved a thermo-forming processing
route consisting of three separate stages: compaction, sintering,
and extrusion. It can produce an expanded UHMWPE (ultra high
molecular weight polyethylene) microstructure that possesses
negative Poissons ratios. They proved that their material produced
was homogeneous and continuous, and most importantly, has
Poissons ratio values varying from 0 to 1.24, depending on the
applied strain, in the radial direction, and approximately 0 in the
axial direction. Fig. 21 shows their representative works.
Ten years after Lakes rst published his fabrication method,
Chan and Evans published another method for auxetic foam
[102]. Bianchi et al. produced auxetic open cell foams for curved
and arbitrary shapes [103]. These researchers based their fabrication on polyethylene/polymeric foam. Their typical results are
anisotropic structures. Other researchers in this category are
Donoghue, Kettle, Neale, Pickles, Bezazi, Scarpa, Larson, Remillat,
Sigmund, Bouwstra, Simkins, Ravirala, Davies, etc. [104
106,51,107]. In terms of the manufacturing process, besides the
heat treatment, thermo-forming, and compaction methods, there
are also rapid prototyping techniques such as micro machining
and fusion mold deposition (FDM) and HP-PA powder stereolythography.
Other groups of materials fabricated are in textile, e.g. [107,108]
and carbon bers, e.g. [109]. Details of the manufacturing methods
are beyond the scope of this review.
Experimental methods that are related to mechanics involve
characterization and functional experiments. Starting with experiments that are as simple as what Gaspar et al. often used, simple
experimental tools to support their mathematical modeling
[110112], to Clarke, who uses mechanical/conventional characterization [113], to Lethbridge et al., who use direct, static measurement of the single-crystal Youngs moduli of the zeolite
natrolite, and to using mechanical to Brillouin scattering and ultrasound [114].
Tee, Spadoni, Scarpa, and Ruzzene researched wave propagation
in auxetic tetrachiral [115]. They performed numerical and
experimental investigations on exural wave propagation. A wave
approach is applied to the representative unit cell of the honeycomb to calculate its dispersion characteristics and phase constant
surfaces varying the geometric parameters of the unit cell. The
modal density of the tetrachiral lattice and of a sandwich panel having the tetrachiral as core is extracted from the integration of the

Fig. 21. Micrograph of the auxetic ultra high molecular weight polyethylene
(UHMWPE) developed by Alderson and Evans [101].

phase constant surfaces, and compared with the experimental ones

obtained from measurements using scanning laser vibrometers.
Other experimental works are available. However, the ones related to our scope have been sufciently reviewed here.
8. Final remarks
Auxetic materials have a lot of potential applications from biomedical to automotive and defense industries. Also, these materials could potentially be used for completely new structures with
special functions. However, more research work needs to be done
for further understanding of these materials and their applications
to real components. From the mechanical and computational point
of view, it is predicted that research on this subject will be dominated by the unit cell concept, hierarchical, homogenization of
both periodic/ordered and disordered cells. Until recently, almost
all relevant papers have been based on ordered structures, which
is convenient for the purpose of analysis. However, in the near future, the work presumably will be dominated by study of disordered structures since that analysis is closer to real material
structures. The author believes that such materials, with little
existing understanding of deformations in the presence of disorder,
will require a newer theory and computational approach that
could go beyond the currently available homogenization concept.
Acknowledgments
Funding by Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) through FRGS
program titled: Fundamental study of auxetic materials: Analytical, Computational, and Experimental Approaches is gratefully
acknowledged.
Appendix A
A.1. Technique for producing auxetic polymeric foams
Note: The following procedure is adapted from Lakes published
paper [4].
The mould: Aluminum square tube, 100 square, for a mould. If
too large a mould is used, heat transfer will be poor, and only
the outer portion of the foam will be transformed.
 Preheat furnace to about 160170C.
 Either measure or mark foam for later determination of strains.
Mark foam in all 3 orthogonal directions, i.e., two adjacent
corners and down one side.
 (optional: this is not necessary if sufcient care is taken in
removing wrinkles) Lubricate sides of square aluminum tube
with vegetable oil. Spray cooking oil (PAM) can also be used,
but does not seem to work better. DO NOT use a petroleum distillate base lubricant; it will smell terrible when heated.
 Stuff the foam in the tube. It works well to start the foam
slightly by hand and then work it up gently with a tongue
depressor to remove wrinkles.
 Pull the foam a little on both ends to get rid of creases created
by stufng the material. This procedure will result in a pre
stretched sample in the tube. The actual original length of the
sample must be used when determining the amount of pre
compression to apply.
 Place the compression device and end plates on the stuffed tube.
 If the desired specimen length is less than the square tube size,
select the correct length of cut tubing [pipe] within the mould
to compress the foam longitudinally by the same amount as
transversely. Alternatively, cut the foam proportionally longer
than the square tube length and do not use pipe.

151

Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

 Push the pipe down on the loose end plate such that the foam is
compressed evenly at the end. Try not to push too fast; this may
contribute to the uneven distribution of compression along the
length of the specimen.
 Gently tighten down the side screws to hold the cut pipe in
place.
 Place assembly in centre of furnace or oven. A kitchen oven is
sufcient.
 Leave the foam in the oven for a predetermined amount of time.
The gray polyester foams transform better at a slightly lower
temperature for a longer amount of time, about 20 min maximum. The white/cream colored polyether foam seems to be
more sensitive with respect to melting together; 1718 min. is
appropriate.
 Remove and cool the specimen completely. Taking the specimen out of the mould before complete cooling may result in
premature release of the pre compression. It may be helpful
to release foam ribs which have stuck together: stretch the
specimen gently in each of three directions. Congratulations!
You have made negative Poissons ratio foam (also called antirubber, dilational material, or auxetic material).
 Measure the amount of permanent compression retained by the
specimen by either measuring the new distance between the
marks or by measuring the size of the transformed sample.
 Other kinds of moulds are possible and have been used successfully by others.
A.2. Homogenization theory applied for auxetic computation
This subsection is extracted from authors previously published works and some other publications, e.g. [98,99]. In this
theory, the local constitutive structure is thought to have a locally
specied periodic unit cell as shown in Fig. A-1. Hence, every
physical variable eld on this material support can be expressed
by the combination of the averaged part with the local disturbance as depicted in part (b) of the gure. Assuming that the
periodicity, , should be sufciently small, every physical eld
u(x, y) in total can be represented by the following asymptotic
expansion in :

ux; y u0 x  u1 x; y

1 2 2
 u x; y . . . . . . for y
2

 x=

1
2

v x; y v 0 x  v 1 x; y 2 v 2 x; y . . . . . .

A-2

where {u , u } are functions for the averaged part and disturbance in

the coordinates {x, y}, respectively. Owing the periodicity of function u in the y-coordinates, the following two equations are power
tool for formulation:

ux; y u0 x  u1 x; y

lim
x!0

ux; ydV

1
jYj

Z

v x; y v 0 x  v 1 x; y

A-4

where Y denotes for a volume of unit cell. These two equations or

similar forms of those two were mainly used for computational approach in auxetic materials too. To use the principle in FEA to compute the elastic modulus, recall the weak form of linear elasticity
problem nite element:

Eijkl

@uk @ v i
dX
@xl @xj

Z
X

bi v i dX

t i v i dC
C

A-9

Meanwhile, the gradient of u and

0

v are:

5 ux; y 5x u x 5x u x; y 5y u1 x; y

5 v x; y 5x v 0 x 5x v 1 x; y 5y v 1 x; y

A-10

Combine Eq. (A-5) with the above equations gives:

!
0

@uk @u1k
@ v 0i @ v 1i
dX

@xl
@yl
@xj
@yj
X
"
!
#

Z
@u1k @ v 0i @ v 1i
@u0k @u1k @ v 1i

dX
 Eijkl

@xi @xj
@yj
@xl
@yl @xj
X
Z
@u1 @ v 1i
2 Eijkl k
dX
@xl @xj
C
Z
Z





bi v 0i v 1i dX t i v 0i v 1i dC

Eijkl

A-11

 ? 0, it becomes:

when

!
0

@uk @u1k
@ v 0i @ v 1i
dX
Eijkl

@xl
@yl
@xj
@yj
X
Z
Z
bi v 0i dX t i v 0i dC

Z

A-12

0

@uk @u1k
@v i
dX

x!0
@xl
@yl
@xj
X
Z

Z
bi v 0i dX t i v 0i dC
lim

A-13

and

lim
x!0

Eijkl

@uk @u1k @ v 1i

dX 0
@xi
@yi @yj

A-14

Using our Eq. (A-11), we can rewrite into

Ux; y dX

Z
X

1
jYj

Z

Ux; ydY dX

A-15

Eqs. (A-13) and (A-14) eventually become:

Z
@uk @u1k
@v i
1
dY dX
Eijkl

@xl
@yl
@xj
X jYj Y
Z
Z

bi v 0i dX t i v 0i dC

A-16

and

Z
A-5

Eijkl

x!0

x!0

ux; ydY dV

A-8

and

lim
Z

A-7

or

A-3

and

for y

 x=

@
@u 1 @u
ux; y

@xi
@xi  @yi

A-6

and

lim

 x=

can be separated to:

A-1

ux; y u0 x  u1 x; y

1 2 2
 u x; y . . . . . . for y
2

ux; y u0 x  u1 x; y

or,

and, using the homogenization principle, we use x and y in microscale coordinate (see Fig. A-1),

1
jYj

Z
Y

Eijkl

@uk @u1k @ v 1i

dY dX 0
@xi
@yi @yj

A-17

152

Y. Prawoto / Computational Materials Science 58 (2012) 140153

Fig. A-1. (a) A frame of multi-scaling in materials using the homogenization theory. (b) Local deviation in the eld variable to be embedded into the rationally smoothed
distribution [98].

Introducing a separation of variables to satisfy this based on linear elasticity

u1i x; y

v

@u0p
pq
i y
@xq

A-18

where vkl
p is the microscale parameter. This can be obtained by combining Eqs. (A-18) and (A-17):

Z
X

1
jYj

Eijkl  Eijpq

!
@ vpq
@u0
@ v 1i
i
dY k 0
@yj @yj
@xl

A-19

Therefore, our weak form becomes:

Z
X

EHijkl

@u0k
@xl

Z
Z
@v i
dX
bi v 0i dX t i v 0i dC
@xj
X
C

A-20

where the homogenized tensor of elasticity is:

EHijkl

1
jYj

Eijkl  Eijkl

!
@ vkl
p
dY
@yq

A-21

Conveniently, the effective elastic modulus, Ee, and Poissons

ratio, me, can be obtained from the plane stress assumption as
follows:

EH1111

6 H
4 E2211
0

EH1122
EH2222
0

2
1
E
7
6m
4 e
0 5
1  m2e
0
EH1212
0

me
1
0

0 7
5

1me
2

Therefore, the homogenization concept is highly useable in

auxetic material computational approach.

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