Elasto-static micropolar behavior of a chiral auxetic lattice

Auxetic materials expand when stretched, and shrink when compressed. This is the result of a negative Poisson's ratio v. Isotropic configurations with v approximate to -1 have been designed and are expected to provide increased shear stiffness G. This assumes that Young's modulus and v can be engineered independently. In this article, a micropolar-continuum model is employed to describe the behavior of a representative auxetic structural network, the chiral lattice, in an attempt to remove the indeterminacy in its constitutive law resulting from v = -1. While this indeterminacy is successfully removed, it is found that the shear modulus is an independent parameter and, for certain configurations, it is equal to that of the triangular lattice. This is remarkable as the chiral lattice is subject to bending deformation of its internal members, and thus is more compliant than the triangular lattice which is stretch dominated. The derived micropolar model also indicates that this unique lattice has the highest characteristic length scale I of all known lattice topologies, as well as a negative first Lame constant without violating bounds required for thermodynamic stability. We also find that hexagonal arrangements of deformable rings have a coupling number N=1. This is the first lattice reported in the literature for which couple-stress or Mindlin theory is necessary rather than being adopted a priori. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.