A 2D microstructure with auxetic out-of-plane behavior and non-auxetic in-plane behavior

Customarily, in-plane auxeticity and synclastic bending behavior (i.e. out-of-plane auxeticity) are not independent, being the latter a manifestation of the former. Basically, this is a feature of three-dimensional bodies. At variance, two-dimensional bodies have more freedom to deform than three-dimensional ones. Here, we exploit this peculiarity and propose a two-dimensional honeycomb microstructure with out-of-plane auxetic behavior opposite to the in-plane one. With a suitable choice of the lattice constitutive parameters, in its continuum description such a structure can achieve the whole range of values for the bending Poisson coefficient, while retaining a membranal Poisson coefficient equal to 1. In particular, this structure can reach the extreme values, −1 and +1, of the bending Poisson coefficient. Analytical calculations are supported by numerical simulations, showing the accuracy of the continuum formulas in predicting the response of the discrete structure.