Auxetic effect of natural fiber knitted fabrics

Abstract

Since they present a negative Poisson's radio, auxetic materials are different from conventional ones. These materials present an unusual behaviour: when stretched (elongated in the longitudinal direction), their cross-section is increased. There are two different ways to obtain auxetic materials: through polymers or through structures. It is possible to affirm that those obtained through fibrous structures are very recent and that few authors have been dedicated to their study. The main objective of this work is to study the effect of the negative Poisson􀂶􀁖 ratio in fibrous structures using flax fibres. The dimensional parameters of the fibrous structures have been varied and their influence on the auxetic behaviour assessed and analysed.