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Negative Poisson's ratios as a common feature of cubic metals

Nature volume 392, pages 362–365 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

Poisson's ratio is, for specified directions, the ratio of a lateral contraction to the longitudinal extension during the stretching of a material. Although a negative Poisson's ratio (that is, a lateral extension in response to stretching) is not forbidden by thermodynamics, this property is generally believed to be rare in crystalline solids1. In contrast to this belief, 69% of the cubic elemental metals have a negative Poisson's ratio when stretched along the [110] direction. For these metals, we find that correlations exist between the work function and the extremal values of Poisson's ratio for this stretch direction, which we explain using a simple electron-gas model. Moreover, these negative Poisson's ratios permit the existence, in the orthogonal lateral direction, of positive Poisson's ratios up to the stability limit of 2 for cubic crystals. Such metals having negative Poisson's ratios may find application as electrodes that amplify the response of piezoelectric sensors.

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Figure 1: Correlations for the Poisson's ratios of b.c.c. metals, derived from observed18,22 elastic compliances and polycrystalline work functions.
Figure 2: The dependence of ν(110, 1&1macr;0) and ν(110, 001) on polycrystalline work function for f.c.c. phases of the non-ferromagnetic elemental metals.
Figure 3: The structural origin of a negative Poisson's ratio and a giant positive Poisson's ratio for the case of a rigid-sphere b.c.c. solid.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. S. Lakes, J. J. Gilman, L. W. Shacklette, R. C. Morris, and S. O. Dantas for important comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. AlliedSignal Inc., Research and Technology, Morristown, 07962-1021, New Jersey, USA

    Ray H. Baughman, Justin M. Shacklette & Anvar A. Zakhidov

  2. Department of Physics and Measurement Technology, Linköping University, S-581 83, Linköping, Sweden

    Sven Stafström

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  1. Ray H. Baughman
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Correspondence to Ray H. Baughman.

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Baughman, R., Shacklette, J., Zakhidov, A. et al. Negative Poisson's ratios as a common feature of cubic metals. Nature 392, 362–365 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/32842

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