Fabrication and Mechanical Testing of the Uniaxial Graded Auxetic Damper

Auxetic structures can be used as protective sacrificial solutions for impact protection with lightweight and excellent energy-dissipation characteristics. A recently published and patented shock-absorbing system, namely, Uniaxial Graded Auxetic Damper (UGAD), proved its efficiency through comprehensive analytical and computational analyses. However, the authors highlighted the necessity for experimental testing of this new damper. Hence, this paper aimed to fabricate the UGAD using a cost-effective method and determine its load–deformation properties and energy-absorption potential experimentally and computationally. The geometry of the UGAD, fabrication technique, experimental setup, and computational model are presented. A series of dog-bone samples were tested to determine the exact properties of aluminium alloy (AW-5754, T-111). A simplified (elastic, plastic with strain hardening) material model was proposed and validated for use in future computational simulations. Results showed that deformation pattern, progressive collapse, and force–displacement relationships of the manufactured UGAD are in excellent agreement with the computational predictions, thus validating the proposed computational and material models.

Energy Absorption Enhancement by Unit Cell Angle Grading or Sandwich Panels with Auxetic Core

Architectured structures, particularly auxetic materials, have demonstrated encouraging applications in energy absorption as they facilitate the customization of their structural response. Specific geometries of unit cells can thus be tailored for particular needs due to recent progress in additive manufacturing techniques. This paper experimentally studies how the grading of the cell unit angle of an auxetic core in a sandwich panel affects its energy absorbing capability and structural response. 3D printed sandwich panels with uniform and graded auxetic cellular core were tested under quasistatic compression. The results show that sandwich panels with graded core exhibit much better energy absorption capabilities with higher plateau stress and densification strain. This indicates that, by appropriately controlling its geometry, auxetic structures can show further potential as core in sandwich panels for energy absorption applications.

Design and Evaluation of 3D-Printed 4 Structures Coated By CWPU/Graphene as Strain Sensor: Truss, Honeycomb, Chiral Truss, Re-entrant

A strain sensor characterized by elasticity has recently been studied in various ways to be applied to monitoring humans or robots. Here, 4 types of 3D-printed auxetic lattice structures using thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) as raw material were characterized: truss and honeycomb with positive Poisson's ratio and chiral truss and re-entrant with negative Poisson's ratio. Each structure was fabricated as a flexible and stable strain sensor by coating graphene through a dip-coating process. The fabricated auxetic structures have excellent strength, flexibility, and electrical conductivity desirable for a strain sensor and detect a constant change in resistance at a given strain. The 3D-printed auxetic lattice 4 type structures coated with CWPU/Graphene suggest potential applications of multifunctional strain sensors under deformation.

A design method for metamaterials: 3D transversely isotropic lattice structures with tunable auxeticity

A method for designing 3D transversely isotropic auxetic lattice structures is proposed. Based on it, two new auxetic structures have been designed. Systematically, their effective elastic properties are investigated computationally and analytically in all loading directions. The effective Young's moduli and Poisson's ratios within the transverse plane and those along the longitudinal direction are widely tunable by tailoring the structural geometry. Both structures exhibit transverse and longitudinal auxeticities concurrently as well as separately. The proposed auxetic structures expand the existing auxetic material space in terms of elastic anisotropy.

On the design workflow of auxetic metamaterials for structural applications

Auxetic metamaterials exhibit an unexpected behaviour of a negative Poisson’s ratio, meaning they expand transversely when stretched longitudinally. This behaviour is generated predominantly due to the way individual elements of an auxetic lattice are structured. These structures are gaining interest in a wide variety of applications such as energy absorption, sensors, smart filters, vibration isolation and medical etc. Their potential could be further exploited by the use of additive manufacturing. Currently there is a lack of guidance on how to design these structures. This paper highlights state-of-the-art in auxetic metamaterials and its commonly used unit-cell types. It further explores the design approaches used in the literature on creating auxetic lattices for different applications and proposes, for the first time, a workflow comprising design, simulation and testing of auxetic structures. This workflow provides guidance on the design process for using auxetic metamaterials in structural applications.

Auxetic Structures for Tissue Engineering Scaffolds and Biomedical Devices

An auxetic structure utilizing a negative Poisson’s ratio, which can expand transversally when axially expanded under tensional force, has not yet been studied in the tissue engineering and biomedical area. However, the recent advent of new technologies, such as additive manufacturing or 3D printing, has showed prospective results aimed at producing three-dimensional structures. Auxetic structures are fabricated by additive manufacturing, soft lithography, machining technology, compressed foaming, and textile fabrication using various biomaterials, including poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate), polyurethane, poly(lactic-glycolic acid), chitosan, hydroxyapatite, and using a hard material such as a silicon wafer. After fabricating the scaffold with an auxetic effect, researchers have cultured fibroblasts, osteoblasts, chondrocytes, myoblasts, and various stem cells, including mesenchymal stem cells, bone marrow stem cells, and embryonic stem cells. Additionally, they have shown new possibilities as scaffolds through tissue engineering by cell proliferation, migration, alignment, differentiation, and target tissue regeneration. In addition, auxetic structures and their unique deformation characteristics have been explored in several biomedical devices, including implants, stents, and surgical screws. Although still in the early stages, the auxetic structure, which can create mechanical properties tailored to natural tissue by changing the internal architecture of the structure, is expected to show an improved tissue reconstruction ability. In addition, continuous research at the cellular level using the auxetic micro and nano-environment could provide a breakthrough for tissue reconstruction.

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of 3D Printed Polymer Tetra-Petal Auxetic Structures under Compression

Auxetic structures possess a negative Poisson ratio (ν < 0) as a result of their geometrical configuration, which exhibits enhanced indentation resistance, fracture toughness, and impact resistance, as well as exceptional mechanical response advantages for applications in defense, biomedical, automotive, aerospace, sports, consumer goods, and personal protective equipment sectors. With the advent of additive manufacturing, it has become possible to produce complex shapes with auxetic properties, which could not have been possible with traditional manufacturing. Three-dimensional printing enables easy and precise control of the geometry and material composition of the creation of desirable shapes, providing the opportunity to explore different geometric aspects of auxetic structures with a variety of different materials. This study investigated the geometrical and material combinations that can be jointly tailored to optimize the auxetic effects of 2D and 3D complex structures by integrating design, modelling approaches, 3D printing, and mechanical testing. The simulation-driven design methodology allowed for the identification and creation of optimum auxetic prototype samples manufactured by 3D printing with different polymer materials. Compression tests were performed to characterize the auxetic behavior of the different system configurations. The experimental investigation demonstrated a Poisson’s ration reaching a value of ν = −0.6 for certain shape and material combinations, thus providing support for preliminary finite element studies on unit cells. Finally, based on the experimental tests, 3D finite element models with elastic material formulations were generated to replicate the mechanical performance of the auxetic structures by means of simulations. The findings showed a coherent deformation behavior with experimental measurements and image analysis.