Multiscale Strain Field Characterization in Flexible Planar Auxetic Metamaterials with Rotating Squares

Auxetic mechanical metamaterials show significant potential to impact many engineering fields and have been a topic of considerable research interest in recent years. Existing literature on the topic often aims to achieve larger negative Poisson's ratios or tailorable responses by carefully designed and distributed unit cells. Herein, it is aimed to investigate the relationships between global and local strain fields in rectangular center-symmetric perforated planar structures, thus highlighting the role of local morphology on the macroscopic material response. Additively manufactured samples with hyperelastic constitutive behavior are characterized under tension. The structures are designed and developed with several perforation aspect ratios, leading to various degrees of auxeticity. Global and local strain fields are characterized using a multiscale digital image correlation measurement approach. The local rotation and in-plane strain fields generated within the solid portions of the unit cells are correlated with the global strain fields and macroscopic Poisson's ratios for a range of cell geometries. The interplay between cell rotation and strain at the meso (unit cell) scale is shown to be the dominant factor in the strain-dependent evolution of the Poisson's ratio in the structures.