On the effect of the poisson's ratio on samples subjected to shearing

The effect of shearing on finite-sized auxetic and non-auxetic samples was examined through finite element simulations. It was shown that when shear was applied in a manner representative of a common shear-testing setup, which is not dissimilar to the situation encountered in sports applications, auxetics manifested very different characteristics compared to their non-auxetic counterparts; with very pronounced edge effects. These included extensive lateral expansion of the samples and the formation of non-insignificant concave creases on their exposed lateral faces. It was shown that these creases became even more pronounced when the samples were subjected to combined shear and compressive loads and need to be taken into consideration when assessing the suitability, or otherwise, of auxetics for practical applications where shear loading may be present to a certain extent.