Auxetics defy common sense, widening when stretched and narrowing when compressed. NIST researchers have now made the process of using them much easier. Such common-sense-defying materials do exist.

The study of auxetic materials and mechanical metamaterials has ushered in a new era in materials science, where structural design and geometry enable properties beyond those of conventional materials ...

Regardless of whether it is strained or compressed, the new material always expands. Copyright: Thomas Heine et al. Researchers have discovered a two-dimensional ...

If you stretch an elastic band, it becomes thinner - a physical behavior that applies to most "common" materials. Since the 20th century, an opposite behavior has been known in materials research: The ...

Why auxetic materials offer some unique advantages in sensor fabrication. How additive manufacturing was used with autextic materials to create unique pressure and force sensors. The structure and ...

For example, if you punch a bag full of water (like you would carry for hiking), the water within it will flow away from the point of impact. If the bag were full of an auxetic foam when you punched ...

Researchers have discovered a new two-dimensional material with unprecedented properties: regardless if it is strained or compressed, it always expands. This so-called half-auxetic behavior is ...

Such common-sense-defying materials do exist. They’re called auxetics, and they have a raft of unique properties that make them well-suited for sneaker insoles, bomb-resilient buildings, car bumpers ...