First synthetic auxetic material could expand into body armour and sportswear

Conventional materials such as rubber bands become thinner as they are stretched. So for the past 30 years researchers have been attempting to mimic the so-called auxetic properties of naturally-occurring materials such as cat skin, human tendons, and the protective layer in mussel shells, which become thicker upon stretching.

However, until now they have only been successful by structuring conventional materials using complex engineering processes such as 3D printing, which can be time consuming and costly. The processes can also lead to weaker, porous products.

The new non-porous material, which has been discovered by researchers at Leeds University, has inherent auxetic stretching properties, according to Dr Devesh Mistry, who led the research.

“This is not something that needed to be engineered in any particular way, you don’t need to 3D print this kind of behaviour,” said Mistry.

The researchers discovered the synthetic material, which has been published in the journal Nature Communications, while investigating Liquid Crystal Elastomers.