A deformable structure, such as a panel or a shock absorber, for absorbing energy from a mechanical and/or acoustic impact. The structure comprises an inner core and one or more external layers covering the inner core. The inner core comprises a set of first segments having a positive Poison's ratio and second segments having a negative Poisson's ratio. The first and second segments are arranged alternately and joined to one another so that the deformation received by one first segment is transmitted to an adjacent second segment and vice versa.

A method of manufacturing a foam having a Poisson's ratio which varies across at least a region of the foam in a gradient distribution involves the steps of: a) providing a housing defining an internal space having an inlet aperture and an outlet aperture; b) providing an open-cell foam of a size and shape configured to fit inside the internal space of the housing; c) positioning the foam inside the internal space of the housing; d) establishing a flow of air through the foam via the inlet and outlet apertures; e) heating the foam to a predetermined temperature while maintaining the flow of air through the foam; and f) subsequently cooling the foam while continuing to maintain the flow of air through the foam. A foam of such a type is also presented.

The present invention includes scalable and cost-effective auxetic foam sensors (AFS) created through conformably coating a thin conductive nanomaterial-sensing layer on a porous substrate having a negative Poisson's ratio. In general, the auxetic foam sensors possess multimodal sensing capability, such as large deformation sensing, small pressure sensing, shear/torsion sensing and vibration sensing and excellent robustness in humidity environment.

A material that includes at least one layer made of an auxetic structure and articles of footwear having soles comprising the materials. When the material is under tension, it expands in both the direction under tension and in the directional orthogonal to the direction under tension. The articles of footwear have soles that have at least one layer made of a material that has a pattern of apertures to provide the auxetic structure. The apertures are surrounded by sole portions that can rotate or pivot to change the size of the apertures.

A door includes a rectangular panel having a first face, a second face, and two pairs of opposing edges, in which the edges of each pair of edges are parallel and in which a first pair of edges is longer than a second pair of edges. The rectangular panel includes a layered composite material, in which a first layer of the composite material has a positive Poisson's ratio (PPR) and a second layer of the composite material is disposed in contact with the first layer and that includes a material having a negative Poisson's ratio (NPR). The door includes a hinge including plates joined together by a joint, in which a first one of the plates is attached to a first one of the edges of the first pair of edges and in which a second one of the plates extends beyond the first one of the edges. The door also includes a handle opening defined through a thickness of the rectangular panel.

A novel material for producing auxetic foams is disclosed. The material comprises a multiphase, multicomponent polymer foam with a filler polymer having a carefully selected glass transition temperature. Novel methods for producing auxetic foams from the material are also disclosed that consistently, reliably and quickly produce auxetic polyurethane foam at about room temperature (25 C.). This technology overcomes challenging issues in the large-scale production of auxetic PU foams, such as unfavorable heat-transmission problem and harmful organic solvents.

A method of customizing the sole structure of an article of footwear includes providing a sole structure with a sole component having an inner surface and an opposite-facing outer surface. The sole component includes a plurality of inner recesses extending from the inner surface and a plurality of outer recesses extending from the outer surface, the plurality of inner recesses include a blind-hole inner recess, the plurality of outer recesses include a blind-hole outer recess, and the blind-hole inner recess is generally aligned with the blind hole outer recess along a vertical direction. The plurality of inner recesses and the plurality of outer recesses provide the sole component with an auxetic structure. The method further includes adjusting the flexibility of the sole component by selectively cutting or removing material from one or both of the blind-hole inner recess and the blind-hole outer recess.

A deformable structure, such as a panel or a shock absorber, for absorbing energy from a mechanical and/or acoustic impact. The structure comprises an inner core and one or more external layers covering the inner core. The inner core comprises a set of first segments having a positive Poison's ratio and second segments having a negative Poisson's ratio. The first and second segments are arranged alternately and joined to one another so that the deformation received by one first segment is transmitted to an adjacent second segment and vice versa.

An auxetic structure consistent with the present disclosure may include a core cell, capable of rotation, including a plurality of first rib sections, and a plurality of second rib sections. The first rib sections may be transverse to a longitudinal axis of the auxetic structure and at least one of the first rib sections may extend from the core cell. The second rib sections may be transverse to a transverse axis of the auxetic structure and at least one of the second rib sections may extend from the core cell.

The present invention includes scalable and cost-effective auxetic foam sensors (AFS) created through conformably coating a thin conductive nanomaterial-sensing layer on a porous substrate having a negative Poisson's ratio. In general, the auxetic foam sensors possess multimodal sensing capability, such as large deformation sensing, small pressure sensing, shear/torsion sensing and vibration sensing and excellent robustness in humidity environment.