Passive and MR Fluid-coated Auxetic PU Foam – Mechanical, Acoustic, and Electromagnetic Properties

This paper deals with a comparative study on the mechanical, acoustic, and electromagnetic properties of a novel class of auxetic (negative Poisson’s ratio) rigid polyurethane (PU) foam with a magnetorheological (MR) fluid coating. An auxetic solid expands in all directions when pulled in only one, thus behaving in an opposite manner compared to ‘classical’ solids. When compared with the conventional PU foam, the auxetic PU foam shows enhanced crashworthiness properties and increased sound absorption characteristics (at low frequencies). Samples of auxetic foam coated with MR fluid are examined in this work. While the tensile mechanical properties of the MR fluid-coated samples are affected mainly by surface effects, the acoustic absorption characteristics show almost constant values beyond the cut-off frequency level of the original uncoated auxetic foam. With regard to the foams’ electromagnetic properties, the auxetic structure and MR coating cause an increase in the refractive index and loss factor compared to the conventional foams. These electromagnetic effects are due to the presence of a high relative density and metal particulates in the foam material.