Experiments and parametric studies on 3D metallic auxetic metamaterials with tuneable mechanical properties

Auxetic metamaterials are synthetic materials with microstructures engineered to achieve negative Poisson's ratios. Auxetic metamaterials are of great interest because of their unusual properties and various potential applications. However, most of the previous research has been focused on auxetic behaviour of elastomers under elastic deformation. Inspired by our recent finding of the loss of auxetic behaviour in metallic auxetic metamaterials, a systematic experimental and numerical investigation has been carried out to explore the mechanism behind this phenomenon. Using an improved methodology of generating buckling-induced auxetic metamaterials, several samples of metallic auxetic metamaterials have been fabricated using a 3D printing technique. The experiments on those samples have revealed the special features of auxetic behaviour for metallic auxetic metamaterials and proved the effectiveness of our structural modification. Parametric studies have been performed through experimentally validated finite element models to explore the auxetic performance of the designed metallic metamaterials. It is found that the auxetic performance can be tuned by the geometry of microstructures, and the strength and stiffness can be tuned by the plasticity of the base material while maintaining the auxetic performance.