Auxetic composite made with multilayer orthogonal structural reinforcement

Auxetic composites are non-conventional materials with negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR). They have received great attention in recent years due to their particular properties and high application potential in different areas. In this study, a novel kind of auxetic composite was proposed and fabricated via an injecting and foaming process by using multilayer orthogonal auxetic structure as reinforcement and polyurethane foam as matrix. The NPR effect and mechanical behavior of the composite under quasi-static compression were investigated and compared with those of the pure polyurethane foam and non-auxetic composite. The results obtained show that the auxetic composite fabricated has an obvious NPR effect and behaves more like a damping material with a large range of deformation strain. The study has provided a simple way to design and fabricate auxetic composite materials by using suitable arrangement of reinforcement materials in a multilayer orthogonal structure.