Much like sphere packing, crystalline materials can be similarly described via periodic packing of cylinders in 3D space. In this instance, the cylinders represented rods of strongly bonded atoms or ...

Sandwich structures combining stiff face sheets and lightweight cores have long been valued for their high strength-to-weight ratio and energy absorption capabilities. The incorporation of auxetic ...

Imagine pulling on the long ends of a rectangular piece of rubber. It should become narrower and thinner. But what if it instead became wider and fatter? Now, push in on those same ends. What if the ...

The Auxetic Pavilion at Kyushu University examines freely formed, three-dimensional surfaces that are suitable for use as adaptive shading elements. The slender Auxetic Pavilion at Japan’s Kyushu ...

I would say the largest man-made auxetic structure I am aware of was probably designed in the 1950s in the case of the graphite core in a number of nuclear reactors. So, on the scale of graphite ...

Regardless of whether it is strained or compressed, the new material always expands. Copyright: Thomas Heine et al. Researchers have discovered a two-dimensional ...

Wake up in the morning and stretch; your midsection narrows. Pull on a rubber band and it becomes thinner. One might assume that materials will always stretch and thin. Wrong. Thanks to their peculiar ...

One study on using auxetic materials in bra straps found that "auxetic polyester and nylon structures exhibited remarkable pressure distribution capabilities." The design tool devised by the NIST and ...

Auxetics defy common sense, widening when stretched and narrowing when compressed. NIST researchers have now made the process of using them much easier. Such common-sense-defying materials do exist.

Such common-sense-defying materials do exist. They’re called auxetics, and they have a raft of unique properties that make them well-suited for sneaker insoles, bomb-resilient buildings, car bumpers ...