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What is This?
Abstract
Flat knitting is a widely used fabric manufacturing technology. Compared with warp knitting and circular knitting, flat
knitting is characterized by its higher process flexibility and greater fabric structure variety. In this work, flat knitting
technology was exploited to fabricate auxetic fabrics which laterally expand when stretched. Three kinds of geometrical
structures, i.e. foldable structure, rotating rectangle and reentrant hexagon, were employed as basic reference structures
for the development of these kinds of auxetic fabrics. The weft knitting processes based on these structures were
specially developed and auxetic fabrics were fabricated using the computerized flat knitting machines. The Poissons ratio-
strain curves of the developed fabrics were plotted and compared with those calculated using existing models to
demonstrate the variation trends of Poissons ratio with the axial strain. The results reveal that except the folded
fabric formed with the face loops and reverse loops in a rectangular arrangement, of which the auxetic effect firstly
increases and then decreases with the axial strain, the auxetic effects of all other fabrics decrease with an increase of the
axial strain. The work also shows that auxetic fabrics can be realized based on knitted structures and that flat knitting
technology can provide a simple, but highly effective way of fabricating auxetic fabrics from conventional yarns.
Keywords
Auxetic fabric, Poissons ratio, flat knitting, geometrical analysis
Lee et al. invented an auxetic ber which not only . knitting of dierent kinds of stitches in the same
responds to the external force, but also responds to the knitting course, such as normal stitches, tuck stitches
moisture by using a moisture activated shrinking la- and miss stitches;
ment.12 Ugbolue et al. presented a technique for produc- . racking and intarsia;
ing warp-knitted auxetic structures using chain and . easy adjustment of knitting parameters during knit-
lling yarn inlays.13 While, Atarbuck et al. patented ting process, such as loop length, yarn tension, fabric
the warp-knitted fabrics having auxetic eect.14 Most take-down tension, yarn carrier change and machine
recently, Liu and Hu have produced a kind of weft- speed.
knitted auxetic fabric based on a geometrical analysis
of a Miura-ori pattern.15 The development of auxetic In this study, both Stoll CMS822 E7.2 and
textiles broadens their potential applications, which Stoll CMS530 E3.5.2 computerized at knitting
include fabrics that change color with tension, threads machines were used to knit auxetic fabrics based on
with knots that do not slip, dental oss with in-built drug the three dierent kinds of geometrical structures, i.e.,
release, and various blast-protection devices, etc. foldable structure, rotating rectangle and reentrant
This paper reports a study of using at knitting tech- hexagon.
nology as an alternative method for fabricating auxetic
fabrics. Various auxetic fabrics knitted on a computer-
ized at knitting machine based on dierent kinds of
Measurement of Poissons ratio
geometries which can achieve auxetic eect are pre- The Poissons ratio (v) of a material is dened as the
sented. At the same time, the knitting processes and negative ratio of the transverse strain to the axial
auxetic eect of these fabrics are also demonstrated strain in the direction of loading. To obtain the
and discussed. Poissons ratio (v) of the fabrics developed, a KES
tensile testing device equipped with a microscope
Knitting abilities of a computerized flat was used to test the fabric under the uni-axial load-
ing condition. As shown in Figure 1, while the axial
knitting machine strain was directly given by the KES testing system,
Knitting is a common process of manufacturing fabric the transverse strain of the fabric was obtained
structures by loop formation. In modern times, knitting by calculating the distance change of two marked
technology is widely used in many areas such as appa- points recorded by the microscope. The ruler
rel, domestic and industrial end-uses. Compared with moving simultaneously with the marked points pro-
other knitting technologies such as warp knitting and vided a reading reference of the distance values
circular knitting, at knitting is characterized by its between the two points marked. The Poissons
high process exibility and great fabric structure vari- ratio (v) was then calculated according to the follow-
ety. The knitting abilities of a computerized at knit- ing equation:
ting machine which can be exploited to fabricate the
auxetic fabrics include: v "t ="a 1
. individual needle selection; where "t and "a are the transverse strain and axial
. loop transfer including binding-o technique; strain, respectively.
Microscope
Computer
Marks Tensile
direction
Clamp Clamp
Ruler
Figure 2. Auxetic fabric formed with the arrangement of face and reverse loops in rectangular forms. a) Knitting pattern, b) fabric at
the free state, c) fabric at the stretched state, d) Poissons ratio vs. strain.
initial stage, which leads to an increase of the auxetic yarn at the free and stretched states is shown in
eect. However, with an increase of the axial strain, the Figure 3b and c, respectively. Dierent from the
expansion eect of the fabric in the transverse direction above fabric, the auxetic eect of this fabric can be
starts to decrease as the fabric becomes more planar, obtained in two principal directions, so that two PR-
which leads to a decrease of the auxetic eect. Thus, the strain curves are shown in Figure 3d. It can be found
curve in a parabolic form is obtained. It is also found that the auxetic eect when extended in the course
that the auxetic eect is obtained in a large range of the direction is higher than that when extended in the
axial strain (until 240%) because high strain is needed wale direction. The reason is that the stripes along the
to totally open this folded fabric. It is necessary to point wale direction are closer than in the course direction,
out that in a unit cell, the number of the courses and which increases more transverse expansion eect when
wales is not the same. This may aect the auxetic eect extended along the course direction. It can be also
of the fabric. In this regard, when designing an auxetic found that the auxetic eects decrease with an increase
fabric with this kind of structure, the number of courses of the strain for both directions. This is because with an
and wales in a unit cell should be taken into increase of loading, the axial strain increase is faster
consideration. than in the transverse strain due to the yarn transfer
The second example is an auxetic fabric made from the transverse direction to the axial direction.
through an arrangement of the face and reverse loops Also, the number of the stripes in a unit cell can
in horizontal and vertical stripes. The knitting pattern aect the auxetic eect of the fabric. For the rst
of the smallest repeating unit cell is shown in Figure 3a. fabric shown in Figure 2b, the folded eect is so high
The fabric knitted with 30/2 Nm 100% mercerized wool that the auxetic eect increases at the initial stage as the
Figure 3. Auxetic fabric formed with the arrangement of face and reverse loops in horizontal and vertical stripes. a) Knitting pattern,
b) fabric at the free state, c) fabric at the stretched state, d) Poissons ratio vs. strain.
opening eect of the folded structure is higher than knitting this structure was to use the great partial-knit-
fabric deformation. However, for this fabric, as the ting power of the computerized at knitting machine to
folded eect is less, the auxetic eect immediately continuously knit individual rectangle units along the
decreases from the beginning of extension. Besides, course direction and to make them connected together
the auxetic eect of this fabric is achieved in a smaller at their vertices in the same way shown in Figure 4. The
range of the axial strain (45% in the course direction partial knitting means that while some needles knit,
and 62% in the wale direction) as the folded eect other needles remain out of action but keep or do not
is less. keep the loops on them. The rectangle units were knit-
ted with 15/2 Nm 100% lambs wool yarn in an inter-
Auxetic fabrics developed based on lock structure because an interlock structure has good
structure stability. At the same time, the rst knitting
rotating rectangles
course on empty needles with an interlock structure can
Several studies have shown that an auxetic eect can be be easily carried out. In order to avoid unraveling and
achieved using rotating units such as squares,16,17 rect- laddering, the binding-o technique was used to close
angles,18 triangles,19 rhombi20,21 and parallelo- the last course of each unit using a high power elastic
grams.21,22 An arrangement involving rigid rectangles rubber yarn. The elastic rubber yarn was also employed
connected together at their vertices by hinges is illus- to knit the rst course of each unit and to connect the
trated in Figure 4, in which the rotation of the rectangle neighboring units in the course direction. The use of
units can lead to an auxetic eect when stretched in one elastic rubber yarn for connecting the rectangle units
direction. According to the geometrical analysis, the can increase the recovery capacity of the structure after
PR, v, and axial strain, "a, of the structure formed release from extension. The initial size of the rigid rect-
with rigid rectangles can be theoretically calculated angle was a 20 mm and b 17 mm, and the initial
from the following equations: angle, 0, between two adjacent rectangles was 0 .
The structure shown in Figure 4 can lead to the
asin0 sin bcos0 cosacos0 bsin0 auxetic eect in two principle directions. However,
acos cos0 bsin sin0 asin0 bcos0 the fabric knitted only has the auxetic eect when
2 extended in the course direction. Thus, only the PR-
strain curve of the fabric extended in this direction is
a cos b sin shown in Figure 5d. The PR-strain curve calculated
"a 1 3 from equations 2 and 3 using the same geometrical
a cos 0 b sin 0
parameters of the fabric is also shown in Figure 5d
where a and b are the width and height of the rectangle, for the comparison. As for the structure formed with
is the half angle between the two adjacent rectangles the rigid rectangles the axial strain is limited when
in the height direction, 0 is the initial value of . reaches a critical value, the calculated curve shown in
Based on the same geometrical arrangement, an Figure 5d can only be plotted until about 30% of the
auxetic fabric was produced on a Stoll CMS530 axial strain. Beyond this value, the axial strain calcu-
E3.5.2 machine. The knitting process is shown in lated starts to reduce. It can be found that the variation
Figure 5a. The fabric at the free and stretched states trends of the PRs between the calculation and measure-
is shown in Figure 5b and c. The key technique for ment are totally opposite. While the auxetic eect
a
b
Tensile direction
Formation sequence of
rectangles using partial-knitting
process
Loops kept for
connecting the
rectangles in the
wale direction
Last course
closed using
binding-off
technique
with elastic
yarn
Interlock
First course knitted on empty
needles with elastic yarn
(a) (b)
Tensile
direction
Wale
Course
(c) (d)
Figure 5. Auxetic fabric formed with rotating rectangles. a) Schematic presentation of knitting process, (b) fabric at the free state, c)
fabric at the stretched state, d) Poissons ratio vs. strain.
measured decrease with an increase of the strain, the Auxetic fabrics developed based on
auxetic eect calculated rises with increase of the strain.
Also, the auxetic eect calculated is much higher than
reentrant hexagonal structure
that measured. The main reason is that in the model, A number of auxetic materials have been found to
the rectangles are assumed to be rigid and their form is be formed with reentrant hexagonal struc-
kept unchanged under loading. At the same time, they tures.4,7,22,23 As shown in Figure 6, when a reen-
are freely rotated around vertices under loading. trant hexagonal structure is stretched in the
However, in the knitted structure, the rectangles can horizontal direction, the diagonal ribs 15, 52,
be easily changed to the parallelograms. Besides, the 36 and 64 will move to the horizontal disposition,
elastic yarns used to connect the rectangles can increase which leads to an increase of the distance between
the axial deformation and the knitting yarn passing point 5 and 6. Consequently, the auxetic eect is
from one rectangle to the next rectangle limits the achieved. Based on the geometrical analysis, the
free rotation of the rectangles. Another problem is the PR, v, and axial strain, "a, of the structure
slippage eect of the yarns in the knitted structure. All formed with rigid sides can be theoretically calcu-
these lead to the dierent variation trends between the lated from the following equations:
model prediction and measurement of the knitted
fabric. Thus, a simple geometrical model with rigid
rectangles cannot be used to predict the auxetic eect b sin 0 cos 0 cos
4
of this kind of the fabric. a b cos 0 sin 0 sin
Connecting band
knitted with interlock
structure
Wale
(c) (d)
Figure 7. Auxetic fabric formed with real reentrant hexagonal structure. a) Schematic presentation of knitting process, b) fabric at
the free state, c) fabric at the stretched state, d) Poissons ratio vs. strain.
length of a pseudo-reentrant hexagon was a 8 mm their connecting points. However, in the fabric, the
and b 5 mm and the initial angle, 0, was 60 . rotations around the connecting points are very limited
The PR-strain curves of the fabric are shown in due to a close fabric structure. In addition, the length of
Figure 8d. As the fabric knitted only has the auxetic each rib side of the fabric can be easily deformed under
eect when extended in the wale direction, only the PR- loading. The yarn slippage eect within the fabric struc-
strain curve extended in this direction is presented. The ture can also increase the axial strain, which lowers the
PR-strain curve calculated from equations 4 and 5 auxetic eect of the fabric. All these factors lead to the
using the same geometrical parameters of the fabric is opposite variation trends between the calculation and
also shown in Figure 8d for comparison. As in the geo- measurement of real knitted fabric.
metrical model, the maximum axial strain is limited at
90 , the calculated curve shown in Figure 8d can
Conclusion
only be plotted until about 13% of the axial strain. It
can be found that variation trends of the PRs between A series of auxetic weft-knitted fabrics has been devel-
the calculation and measurement are totally opposite. oped based on the three kinds of geometrical structures,
While the measured auxetic eect decreases with an i.e., foldable structure, rotating rectangles and reen-
increase of the strain, the calculated auxetic eect trant hexagons, and has been produced using comput-
rises with an increase of the strain. Also, the calculated erized at knitting machines. Good auxetic eects are
auxetic eect is much higher than that measured. This obtained with these fabrics. The PR-strain curves show
phenomenon can be explained by the fact that in the that the NPRs vary with the strain for all the fabrics.
calculation, all sides of the re-entrant hexagon are Except the rst folded fabric, of which the auxetic eect
assumed to be rigid and can be freely rotated around rstly increases and then decreases with the axial strain,
Figure 8. Auxetic fabric formed with pseudo-reentrant hexagonal structure. a) Schematic presentation of knitting process, b) fabric
at the free state, c) fabric at the stretched state, d) Poissons ratio vs. strain.
the auxetic eect of all other fabrics developed yarns. The work again demonstrates that auxetic fab-
decreases with an increase of the strain. The variation rics could be realized based on knitted structures and
trends of the auxetic eects calculated based on the that at knitting technology could provide a simple, but
rigid geometrical models are opposite to those mea- highly eective way of fabricating auxetic fabrics from
sured due to the easy geometrical shape change of knit- conventional yarns. The calculated results also show
ted fabrics and slippage eect taking place among the that the simple geometrical models formed with the
rigid elements are not suitable for the prediction of 9. Ravirala N, Alderson KL, Davies PJ, Simkins VR and
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modulus negative Poissons ratio composite. Composites
Acknowledgements Sci Technol 2009; 69: 651655.
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suggestions received from the reviewers of this paper. auxetic material. Patent WO 2010/070505 A2 2010.
13. Ugbolue SC, Kim YK, Warner SB, Fan Q, Yang CL,
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Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government 14. Starbuck M, Anand SC, Ravirala N, Alderson KL, and
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