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Production of piezo‐resistive auxetic sensors is usually carried out through mixing and coating methods. Although these methods are beneficial, Young's modulus of mixed sensors becomes high because of using a high percentage of sensing elements while the durability of coated sensors gets low due to the separation of sensing elements from the sensor surface. This article presents a new core–shell metamaterial model to address the mentioned problems. The shell and the core are produced of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) rubber and a mixture of PDMS/graphite powders (73.45 wt% graphite powders), respectively. A finite element model is developed via COMSOL software to predict the electromechanical behaviors of the created sensor and verified by an experimental study. Scanning electron microscope imaging is conducted to detect the separations of the graphite particles. The main important feature of this meta‐sensor is to possess a linear sensitivity due to having zero Poisson's ratio. The advantage of this method is that Young's modulus of the sensor does not decrease (unlike the mixing method), and the sensor‐coated particles do not separate from the sensor after a while (unlike the coating method). The introduced model has advantages that promote potential applications such as using sensory gloves to detect, for instance, human hand movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Auxetic structures provide an interesting approach to solving engineering problems due to their negative Poisson's ratio, which allows for elongation perpendicular to applied stresses, opposite to a conventional structure's necking behavior. Thus, they can function well in applications requiring compacting the device into a small volume during the deployment (e.g., implants inserted with catheters) or stretchability with area coverage (e.g., stretchable electronics). Fabricating them with shape memory alloys (SMAs) expands the possibilities. The high strains experienced by auxetic structures may become reversible compared to ordinary metals due to superelastic or shape memory effect. This work studies four different auxetic microstructures using thin film SMAs that are capable of surviving strains up to 57.4%. Since these structures are fabricated by layer deposition and lithography, other components, such as microelectronics, can be seamlessly integrated into the fabrication process. These auxetic thin films are investigated for their mechanical behavior under tension for their stretchability and stability. Under tension, thin films are known to show wrinkling instabilities. In two of four designs, the large auxetic behavior leads to wrinkling, while the other two display stable, non‐wrinkling behavior. These designs can be candidates for stretchable electronics, wearable medical devices (e.g., biosensors), or implants (e.g., stents). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellular solids whose ligaments are made of two distinct materials are constructed for studying their auxeticity and negative thermal expansion via 2D models with the methodology of finite‐element numerical analysis. Three bimaterial cellular models with various radii of ligament curvature (Rc = 5, 8, 11 cm) are analyzed. It is found that when the ligaments comprise aluminum and titanium alloy with Rc = 5 cm, the cellular solid exhibits simultaneous negative effective Poisson's ratio (−0.418) and negative thermal expansion coefficient (−20.82 × 10−6 K−1). When the radius of ligament curvature increases, auxeticity is less pronounced. Positive and negative thermal expansion can be tuned solely by the coefficients of thermal expansion of ligaments' constituents. Furthermore, smaller radii of curvature give rise to larger negative thermal expansion. In addition, modulus mismatch in the bimaterial ligament can be used to tune overall properties. Our findings herein may serve as foundations for the future quantitative design of such cellular materials. In addition, effective Poisson's ratio and coefficient of thermal expansion can be positively or negatively enhanced due to the interplay between the positive and negative phases. Interactions between negative stiffness and larger curvatures may make the system less unstable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An auxetic metamaterial based on a semirotation system is designed herein by combining rigid units of two different shapes, such that each unit cell consists of one nonrotating rhombus and four rotating right triangles. The on‐axes Poisson's ratios are obtained for both infinitesimal and finite deformations by geometrical consideration. The on‐axes Young's moduli of this metamaterial are established by matching the spring potential energy stored at the hinged joints with the strain energy of deformation for the homogenized continuum of the metamaterial. Plotted results describe the interlacing effect of the shape descriptor, the original separation angles, and the change in the separation angle on the on‐axes Poisson's ratio and Young's modulus. The latter is directly proportional to the equivalent spring stiffness per unit cell. In addition to attaining auxetic behavior, this metamaterial can also be designed to achieve specific Young's modulus behavior including extreme stiffness in one of the directions either at infinitesimal or finite deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]