Composites with auxetic inclusions showing both an auxetic behavior and enhancement of their mechanical properties

Composite materials made of auxetic inclusions and giving rise overall to negative Poisson's ratio are considered, adopting a two-steps micromechanical approach for the calculation of their effective mechanical properties. The inclusions consist of periodic beam lattices, whose equivalent mechanical properties are calculated by a discrete homogenization scheme in a first step. The hexachiral and hexagonal reentrant lattices are considered as representative of the two main deformation mechanisms responsible for auxeticity. In a second step, the equivalent properties of the composite are calculated from numerical homogenization using the finite element method. It is shown that both an auxetic behavior and enhanced moduli can be obtained for not too slender micro-beams. (c) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.