Auxetic materials deform in an unusual way when stretched or compressed; they are flexible and adaptable, and, if made from responsive materials, can react to their environment. The opportunities they ...

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 ...

On the bio-materials side, a number of skin tissues and soft tissues have reported to be auxetic, and there are hints that some forms of bone are auxetic. In addition, early stage embryonic tissue has ...

In clothing, auxetic nylons, fibers and other synthetic materials could prove more comfortable than traditional materials. Since they widen when stretched, they more effectively distribute pressure ...

Imagine pulling on the long ends of a rectangular piece of rubber. It should become narrower and thinner. But what if, instead, it got wider and fatter? Now, push in on those same ends. What if the ...

Most materials get thinner when stretched, but “auxetics” do the opposite and get thicker. Helen Gleeson describes her group’s discovery of a material that is auxetic at the molecular level, which ...

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.