Negative Poisson's Ratios From Rotating Rectangles

Materials with a negative Poisson's ratio exhibit the unexpected property of becoming fatter when stretched and narrower when compressed. This counter-intuitive behaviour is known as 'auxetic behaviour' and imparts many beneficial effects on the material's macroscopic properties. This paper discusses the potential of systems composed of rigid rectangles connected together through flexible hinges at their vertices. It will be shown that, on application of uniaxial loads, these rigid rectangles will rotate with respect to each other to form, in some cases, a more open structure hence giving rise to a negative Poisson's ratio.