Study on mechanical properties of an isotropic negative Poisson’s ratio Voronoi foam and its foam-filled tube

Abstract

Based on a modified Voronoi tessellation technique, a series of isotropic negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR) Voronoi foam models were proposed via finite element method (FEM). And the proposed models were prepared by reverse modeling method. Poisson’s ratio and stress–strain relationship of the proposed models were studied via FEM and experimental method. Results showed that the structure exhibited NPR and isotropic behavior. With the increased of the relative density of the model, the absolute value of Poisson’s ratio decreased gradually. The results of FEM and experiment showed good consistency. Then, a foam-filled structure was built by filling the proposed NPR Voronoi foam into a square tube. And its energy absorption ability was studied and compared with an isotropic chiral lattice foam-filled tube. Results showed that the energy absorption ability of the proposed NPR Voronoi foam-filled structure was 11% higher than that of the isotropic NPR chiral lattice foam-filled tube with the same relative density. The research was expected to be meaningful for the further research and application of the isotropic NPR foam.