Hollow Auxetic Polymer Structures with Manufacturing-Constrained Design and Mechanical Validation

Hollow auxetic structures enable lightweight mechanical design by reducing mass while preserving architected deformation. However, hollow auxetic studies focus on LPBF metals. This study presents a manufacturing-constrained design and validation framework for a hollow hybrid re-entrant chiral lattice produced by stereolithography. The unit cell was parameterised by chiral angle, re-entrant strut length, and hollow internal diameter, with drainage features integrated into the CAD model to preserve hollow channels during printing and post-processing. A minimum internal diameter study defined the printable design window. Within these limits, a central composite design coupled with finite element analysis mapped the response surface and identified an optimised geometry of θ = 15°, L = 3.5 mm, and d = 1.68 mm, with a predicted unit-cell negative Poisson’s ratio of about −1.17. Compression testing confirmed that the printed unit cell and 3 × 3 × 3 lattice retained the intended rotation-dominated auxetic deformation mode. At the selected comparison strain, the unit cell showed a negative Poisson’s ratio of −0.68 and the 3 × 3 × 3 lattice showed −0.29. Relative to the solid lattice, the hollow lattice reduced density by 42.4% with only a 3.0% reduction in stiffness, increasing specific stiffness by 68.9% and specific peak strength by 5.2%, but reducing specific energy absorption by 25.6% due to earlier localisation and junction driven fracture. These results provide practical design guidance for manufacturable hollow SLA auxetic lattices, especially for lightweight and stiffness-limited applications where low mass and high specific stiffness are more important than energy absorption.