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Phys. Status Solidi B 247, No. 2, 269–272 (2010) / DOI 10.1002/pssb.200945513
Auxetic cellular structures through
selective electron-beam melting
,1 2 2
J. Schwerdtfeger* , P. Heinl , R. F. Singer , and C. Körner
1
Institute of Advanced Materials and Processes (ZMP), University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Dr.-Mack-Str. 81, 90762 Fürth, Germany
2
Institute of Materials Science and Technology (WTM), University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Martensstr. 5, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
Received 15 July 2009, revised 4 November 2009, accepted 20 November 2009
Published online 22 December 2009
PACS 62.20.de, 62.20.dj, 81.05.Bx, 81.05.Rm
* Corresponding author: e-mail jan.schwerdtfeger@zmp.uni-erlangen.de
This paper is concerned with the build up and characterization
of well-defined auxetic structures (negative Poisson ratio) from
Ti-6Al-4V through selective electron-beam melting (SEBM).
SEBM is a rapid prototyping/manufacturing technique allow-
ing for the direct translation of CAD models to real world
1 Introduction Auxetic cellular structures have
attracted considerable interest in recent years due to their
unique mechanical properties resulting from a negative
Poisson’s ratio n [1–4]. The value of the Poisson’s ratio
controls the elastic behavior of a material to the same extent
as, for example, the Young’s modulus E. A negative value of
n leads to higher indentation resistance [5], shear resistance,
[6] and fracture toughness [7] to name only a few affected
properties. Potential applications for metal auxetics might be
found in a wide area of applications as these materials allow
for new combinations of material properties and present a
new class of materials [6]. To give an example, in high-
temperature systems the combination of low forces due to
thermal expansion (low E) and high shear resistance are of
great interest. Previously, auxetic cellulars have been mainly
produced through volumetric compression of conventional
open porous polymer or metal foams (e.g. [8, 9]). The
volumetric compression results in a complex microstructure
that leads to negative Poisson ratios. The exact mechanisms
are still a matter of debate, but involve the unhinging of
crumbled cells and rotation of rigid units (e.g. [10, 11])
within the microstructure as well as possibly more
complicated modes of deformation [12]. Unfortunately, this
compression process allows for very limited control over the
resulting mechanical properties including n. However, by
using selective electron-beam melting (SEBM) we are able
to build well-defined auxetic cellulars of arbitrary geometry
physica
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basic solid state physics
2
objects. Using SEBM we are able to produce structures of
arbitrary geometry in a well-defined manner. Here, we
introduce a self-designed 3D-auxetic structure and determine
its mechanical properties. We also address the dependence of
Young’s modulus on relative density.
ß 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
in a highly controlled manner. This not only opens up a whole
new field of possible structures, but allows for a high degree
of control over the resulting mechanical properties. In this
paper we present a self-designed three-dimensional auxetic
structure and its build up in the SEBM process using
Ti-6Al-4V. Results for the mechanical characterization of
the structure by compression testing are shown.
2 The structure This is built up from basic elements
that can be envisaged as an inverted tetrapod. These elements
are arranged in building blocks that themselves are used
to fill a plane. The planes are stacked on top of each other
by turning the stacking layer by 608 (see also Fig. 1a).
The resulting structure has an abab stacking order and is
anisotropic, which makes it necessary to determine the
mechanical properties in different directions. The coordinate
system used in the following to describe the orientation of
the structure is shown in Fig. 1b.
3 Experimental The samples for mechanical testing
were built in a SEBM system (ARCAM A2) using Ti-6Al-
4V powder with a maximum particle size of 105 mm and a
mean particle diameter of 70 mm. In the process, parts are
built layerwise by depositing 100-mm layers of metal powder
on a steel start plate using a rake system and melting the
powder in the desired places with an electron beam gun
(acceleration voltage 60 kV). After each layer the start plate
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270 J. Schwerdtfeger et al.: Auxetic cellular structures through selective electron beam melting

Figure 1 (online color at: www.pss-

b.com) (a) Building plan of the auxetic
structure with dimensions A and B indi-
cated. (b) CAD model of a small cube
made of the auxetic structure with pro-
jections of three faces and the coordi-
nate system used to describe the
orientations are shown.

is lowered and a new powder layer is deposited. The whole samples were build up in
3 directions to avoid differences
process produces low impurity concentrations and good in their mechanical behavior caused by the formation process
mechanical properties comparable to cast material or better. itself. For compression, an updated Instron testing machine
A more detailed description of the process can, for example, (Inspekt Retrofit 100) and a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min
be found in Ref. [13]. was used. Strain was measured by an extensometer setup to
The geometric data of the part to be built are given as a measure the distance between the compression stamps.
CAD model. In the present study the relative density of the The Poisson’s ratio n was determined on larger samples
structures was varied by changing the energy deposited by as this allowed for better accuracy (for exact dimensions see
the electron beam per unit length (constant scan speed of Table 2). To measure the transverse strain an extensometer
160 mm/s; variable beam current of 1.9–6 mA). More energy was attached to the sample using two sharp blades. Then they
translates to a larger amount of metal to be molten. This were strained in compression with a stress up to 1.7 MPa,
results in thicker struts and higher relative densities. Relative which was situated within their elastic range and the
densities were determined geometrically, by determining resulting transverse strains measured. On both types of
sample dimensions using callipers and weighing. samples, care was taken to ensure contact planes with the
For the determination of the Young’s modulus E compression stamps as flat as possible by polishing their
rectangular samples of slightly varying dimensions were faces before testing.
used. For different orientations of the structure different
Table 1 Test specimen dimensions (compression).
dimensions were necessary in order to not cut through cells.
The exact dimensions of the compression samples are listed orientation height [mm] width [mm] thickness [mm]
in Table 1. The dimensions of a single inverted tetrapod
given by the CAD-file were A ¼ 3.75 mm and B ¼ 3 mm (see Orientation 1 39.5 17.4 17.5
Orientation 2 39.3 17.5 17.5
Fig. 1a). Four different line energies were used to build the
Orientation 3 39.6 17.4 17.5
structures resulting in four different relative densities. All

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Phys. Status Solidi B 247, No. 2 (2010)
Table 2 Test specimen dimensions (Poisson’s ratio).
orientation height [mm] width [mm] thickness [mm]
Orientation 1 49.5 34.7 34
Orientation 2 50.5 34.5 35
Orientation 3 49.5 34.5 35
Additionally, a CT-scan (resolution 20 mm) was taken
of a sample built with parameters in the same range as the
compression samples to assess the build quality.
4 Results and discussion Figure 2a shows three
large samples used for the determination of the Poisson’s
ratio. Figure 2b is a comparison between the original CAD
file (left) and a CT-scan of the resulting structure (right).
Figure 2b also illustrates the approach used for
controlling the relative density of the structure. The struts
in the CAD file are thinner than what can be realized by the
SEBM system and their thickness is then only controlled by
the energy deposited by the electron beam. The layered
nature of the forming process is clearly visible in the
CT-scan, but the geometry of the CAD file has been
translated well to the real structure.
The results for the Young’s modulus are compiled in the
log–log diagram shown in Fig. 3. An increase in relative
density rrel leads to an increase in E. The dependence of E on
rrel can be described by a power law of the form
E / rm
rel ; (1)
Figure 2 (online color at: www.pss-b.com) (a) The actual samples
used for determining Poisson’s ratio (three different orientations).
(b) Comparison between original CAD-file (left) and CT-scan (right)
of resulting structure.
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Original
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271
Figure 3 (online color at: www.pss-b.com) Young’s modulus for
the three different sample orientations determined by compression
testing plotted against relative density. The lines shown correspond
to an exponent of m ¼ 2.5.
with an exponent m around 2.5 for all three sample
orientations. For the orientations 1 and 2 the values for
Young’s modulus are very similar while Orientation 3
shows lower stiffness throughout the relative density range
covered here. Keeping the structure in mind this is not too
surprising, as in projection Orientations 1 and 2 correspond
to honeycombs, while the third orientation has a fundamen-
tally different geometry.
The exponent found here is slightly higher than the
exponent predicted by the model of Gibson and Ashby [11,
12] formulated for open-cell foams. Their model, which is
based on a periodic cellular structure deforming by beam
bending only, postulates an exponent of m ¼ 2. There are
several possible reasons for this deviation. One thing to be
considered is the relatively large surface roughness of the
struts caused by the SEBM process visible in the CT-scan in
Fig. 2b. This roughness adds material to the struts without
contributing to the actual stiffness of the structure. With
increasing strut thickness the effect of the surface roughness
becomes smaller as it does not increase to the same extent as
the load-bearing part of the structure. This might lead to a
tilting of the power law to higher exponents.
It is also possible that apart from the beam bending
considered by Gibson and Ashby other deformation modes
play a role for the auxetic structure. Apart from beam-
bending contributions, stretching of the struts in the force
direction and the formation of elastic/plastic hinges in the
nodes where struts meet have been considered in the
literature [14–16]. It is generally agreed that stretching only
gives a significant contribution for relatively dense cellular
structures [15], unless the axial stiffness of the cell walls is
decoupled from their bending stiffness [16] as in the case of
wavy cell walls or molecular networks. The formation of
hinges usually does not play a significant role in elastic
foam deformation either. However, for cellulars where the
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272 J. Schwerdtfeger et al.: Auxetic cellular structures through selective electron beam melting
Figure 4 (online color at: www.pss-b.com) Poisson’s ratio deter-
mined on the three samples shown in Figure 3 (three different
orientations) plotted against strain.
material in the nodes has been weakened it can contribute to
the overall axial strain [16]. For foams this can usually be
ruled out as their nodes tend to be thicker and hence stiffer
than their struts. In comparison the cellular structure
presented here has nodes that are not reinforced, but rather
slightly weakened. This is a result of the production process;
every strut is formed by a series of melt points similar to
pearls on a string. A certain overlap ensures the mechanical
integrity of the struts, but between two melt points an area of
smaller diameter exists. As a result, nodes are connected to
their surrounding struts through slightly thinner areas where
hinges might form. In order to assess whether one of these
mechanisms gives a significant contribution to the axial
strain a more thorough investigation of the deformation
behavior of the cells is required, which will be the focus of
future investigations.
Figure 4 shows the results for the Poisson ratio measured
in different orientations of the structure. The Poisson’s ratio
is given by
ei
nij ¼  ; (2)
ej
with ei being the resulting transverse strain caused by the
imposed strain ej and i, j the direction of the measured strain.
All samples used for determining n had a relative density of
about 0.1. The Poisson ratio does not depend appreciably
on strain for the narrow strain window covered in our
experiments. For higher strains the dependence would be
expected as n is only the result of the internal structure that is
changing during deformation. The absolute values are
different for the different orientations of the structure. On
ß 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
the faces resembling a wavy honeycomb structure (n12 and
n21) we find positive values of n in the range of 0.45–0.5 and
no auxetic behavior.
For all other faces we find negative Poisson ratios in the
range of –0.2 to –0.4 depending on the orientation and,
hence, auxetic behavior. These values show that when the
structure is compressed along the
3 directions the whole
sample contracts. In all other orientations tested here two
faces show a contraction under compressive stress, while one
face (the wavy honeycomb face) expands.
5 Conclusions We have designed and built an auxetic
cellular structure using the SEBM process and were able to
demonstrate the auxetic nature of the structure by com-
pression testing. For the dependence of Young’s modulus on
relative density of the structure a power-law exponent of
about 2.5 was found. A more thorough analysis of the
deformation mechanisms involved is needed to interpret this
exponent, which will be the focus of future work.
Acknowledgements We would like to thank Frank
Nachtrab from the ‘‘Fraunhofer Entwicklungszentrum
Röntgentechnik’’ who recorded the CT-scan. The authors also
gratefully acknowledge the funding of the German Research
Council (DFG), which, within the framework of its ‘‘Excellence
Initiative’’ supports the Cluster of Excellence ‘‘Engineering of
Advanced Materials’’ at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.
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