Pi Lab: Adaptable Auxetics

Pi Lab: Adaptable Auxetics is a research project that investigates the possible applications of randomly generated auxetic structures.

Subproject of Pi Lab.

What are auxetic structures?

Where most materials shrink in one direction when stretched in the other direction (positive ‘Poisson’s ratio’), auxetic structures have the unique characteristic of expanding in both directions at the same time (negative Poisson’s ratio). This characteristic makes auxetic structures very promising for all kinds of innovative applications.

Auxetic material developed by Martin van Hecke — See full video about Adaptable Auxetics

Randomly generated auxetic patterns

The starting point of Adaptable Auxetics is an algorithm developed by professors Kees Storm and Wouter Ellenbroek (TU/e), which randomly generates (and optimizes) auxetic patterns.

The random nature of these patterns makes it possible to generate structures that we would otherwise have never imagined. Moreover, it creates certain character traits in material that can be applied in designs and works of art. The structures move in wonderful, unexpected ways — a game between control and uncontrollability.

Simulation of a randomly generated auxetic structure created by the team of Soft Matter & Biological Physics at TU/e.

Objects with Agency

Through Adaptable Auxetics, Pi Lab explores the domain of Objects with Agency: the possibilities of the physical world to be responsive and adaptable.

By using auxetic structures, many versatile objects — even buildings — could be downsized, enlarged and reshaped according to the user’s needs and changing circumstances.

Current research group

In collaboration with professors Kees Storm, Wouter Ellenbroek and Miguel Dias Castilho from Eindhoven University of Technology and professors Amir Zadpoor and Mohammad Mirzaali from Delft University of Technology, Pi Lab investigates the application of randomly generated auxetic patterns in medical stents.

Eindhoven University of Technology

Team of Soft Matter & Biological Physics
Kees Storm, Wouter Ellenbroek, Steven van Duijnhoven
Developing the algorithm that randomly generates auxetic patterns

Department of Biomedical Engineering
Miguel Dias Castilho
Application of randomly generated auxetics in 3D-printed stents

Adaptable Auxetics was on show at ‘Cabinet of Collaborations’ during Dutch Design Week 2021