Auxetic deformation of the weft-knitted Miura-ori fold

Abstract

Negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR) material with unique geometry is rare in nature and has an auxetic response under strain in a specific direction. With this unique property, this type of material is significantly promising in many specific application fields. The curling structure commonly exists in knitted products due to the unbalanced force inside a knit loop. Thus, knitted fabric is an ideal candidate to mimic natural NPR materials, since it possesses such an inherent curly configuration and the flexibility to design and process. In this work, a weft-knitted Miura-ori fold (WMF) fabric was produced that creates a self-folding three-dimensional structure with NPR performance. Also, a finite element analysis model was developed to simulate the structural auxetic response to understand the deformation mechanism of hierarchical thread-based auxetic fabrics. The simulated strain–force curves of four WMF fabrics quantitatively agree with our experimental results. The auxetic morphologies, Poisson’s ratio and damping capacity were discussed, revealing the deformation mechanism of the WMF fabrics. This study thus provides a fundamental framework for mechanical-stimulating textiles. The developed NPR knitted fabrics have a high potential to be employed in areas of tissue engineering, such as artificial blood vessels and artificial folding mucosa.

Mosquito-Textile Physics: A Mathematical Roadmap to Insecticide-Free, Bite-Proof Clothing for Everyday Life

“…Structural parameters of woven and knit structures were obtained by the calculation of fabric thickness, weave density and spatial axial distribution [ 11 , 24 ], which were then imported into SolidWorks ® , a computer-aided design program, for establishment of a geometrical model. The boundary conditions of both the woven and knit model were set to periodical boundary conditions [ 25 ] for approximating a large (infinite) fabric piece by using a small fraction of the piece.…”

“…Textiles have a three-dimensional structure assembled with interlacements or intermeshing fibers and yarns in organized patterns [ 10 ]. The design of fibers and yarns produce textile structures with a diverse range of properties, some of which could provide insect protection [ 11 ]. Fabrics have been specifically designed as physical barriers against environmental factors such as water [ 12 ], airflow [ 13 ], or heat and cold [ 14 ].…”

Investigating the Thermo-Physiological Comfort Properties of Weft-Knitted Smart Structures Having a Negative Poisson’s Ratio

“…Auxetic materials have numerous desirable characteristics due to their special quality, including good body ft, better shear resistance, improved indentation resistance, increased plane strain fracture toughness, increased resistance to shock, soundproofng, and other features. Tere are several possible uses for auxetic materials, such as knee pads, bulletproof vests, shockproof gloves, explosionproof drapes, medical dressings, and areas of tissue engineering, for example, artifcial blood vessels and artifcial folding mucosa [5][6][7].…”

Comparison of Poisson’s Ratio Measurement Methods: The Extensometer and the Universal Tensile Testing Devices

“…In the literature, there are many studies on yarn [1,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], woven fabric [21][22][23][24][25][26], knitted fabric [8,[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37], composite [38][39][40][41] production related to low PR or auxetic textile materials. Auxetic fabrics can also be produced with auxetic yarns or conventional yarns.…”

“…Auxetic fabrics can also be produced with auxetic yarns or conventional yarns. Researchers changed the yarn properties and/or fabric patterns in literature to achieve low PR values [8,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. These studies show that the researchers used Re-entrant (zigzag), Rotating, Chiral, Fibril-Nodule, and Foldable mesh structures [2,42,43].…”