Meaning of Poisson's ratio

Rod Lakes

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Definition of Poisson's ratio

Poisson's ratio is the ratio of transverse contraction strain to longitudinal extension strain in the
direction of stretching force. Tensile deformation is considered positive and compressive
deformation is considered negative. The definition of Poisson's ratio contains a minus sign so
that normal materials have a positive ratio. Poisson's ratio, also called Poisson ratio or the
Poisson coefficient, or coefficient de Poisson, is usually represented as a lower case Greek nu, .
If your browser does not interpret Symbol font properly, Greek nu, may instead look like a
bold face Latin n. For an alternative page go here.
= - trans / longitudinal
Strain is defined in elementary form as the
change in length divided by the original length.
= L/L.
Poisson's ratio: why usually positive
Virtually all common materials, such as the blue rubber band on the right, become narrower in
cross section when they are stretched. The reason why, in the continuum view, is that most
materials resist a change in volume as determined by the bulk modulus K (also called B) more
than they resist a change in shape, as determined by the shear modulus G.
In the structural view, the reason for the usual positive Poisson's ratio is that inter-atomic bonds
realign with deformation. Stretching of yellow honeycomb by vertical forces, shown on the right,
illustrates the concept. Negative Poisson's ratio in designed materials and in some anisotropic
materials is by now well known.
Poisson's ratio: relation to elastic moduli in isotropic solids
Poisson's ratio is related to elastic moduli K (also called B), the bulk modulus; G as the shear
modulus; and E, Young's modulus, by the following (for isotropic solids, those for which
properties are independent of direction). The elastic moduli are measures of stiffness. They are
ratios of stress to strain. Stress is force per unit area, with the direction of both the force and the
area specified. See Sokolnikoff Ref. [1]; also further details.

 = (3K - 2G)/(6K + 2G)

E = 2G( 1 + )
E = 3K(1 - 2 )
Further interrelations among elastic constants for isotropic solids
are as follows. B is the bulk modulus.

The theory of isotropic linear elasticity allows Poisson's ratios in the range from -1 to 1/2 for an
object with free surfaces with no constraint. Physically the reason is that for the material to be
stable, the stiffnesses must be positive; the bulk and shear stiffnesses are interrelated by formulae
which incorporate Poisson's ratio. Objects constrained at the surface can have a Poisson's ratio
outside the above range and be stable.
Poisson's ratio in various materials
Poisson's ratio of the elements are via Web Elements, which adduce references [2-4]. In a large
compilation of properties of polycrystalline materials [5], most have Poisson's ratio in the
vicinity of 1/3. Some experiments, e. g. the resonant ultrasound studies in [9], provide crosschecking; comparison of multiple vibration mode frequencies confirms the modulus and
Poisson's ratio follow linear isotropic elasticity.
Material
Poisson's ratio References
Isotropic upper limit 0.5
[1] I. S. Sokolnikoff, Mathematical theory of elasticity. Krieger,
[1]
0.48- ~0.5
Malabar FL, second edition, 1983.
Rubber [6]
0.45
[2] A .M. James and M. P. Lord in Macmillan's Chemical and
Indium [11]
0.44
Physical Data, Macmillan, London, UK, 1992.
Gold
0.44
[3] G.W.C. Kaye and T.H. Laby in Tables of physical and
Lead
0.37
chemical constants, Longman, London, UK, 15th edition, 1993.
Copper [7]
0.35
[4] G.V. Samsonov (Ed.) in Handbook of the physicochemical
Aluminum
0.34
properties of the elements, IFI-Plenum, New York, USA, 1968.
Copper
0.34
[5] G. Simmons, and H. Wang, Single crystal elastic constants
Polystyrene [6]
0.33
and calculated aggregate properties: a handbook, MIT Press,
Brass [1]
0.33
Cambridge, 2nd ed, 1971.
Ice [8]
0.3
[6] J. A. Rinde, Poisson's ratio for rigid plastic foams, J. Applied
Polystyrene foam [6] 0.30
Polymer Science, 14, 1913-1926, 1970.
0.29
[7] D. E. Gray, American Institute of Physics Handbook, 3rd ed.,

Stainless Steel [7]

Steel [1]
Tungsten
Fused quartz [9]
Beryllium
Re-entrant foam [10]
Isotropic lower limit
[1]

0.28
0.17
0.08
-0.7
-1

chapter 3, McGraw hill, New York, 1973.

[8] E. M. Schulson, The Structure and Mechanical Behavior of
Ice, JOM, 51 (2) pp. 21-27, 1999. article link
[9] H. H. Demarest, Jr., Cube resonance method to determine the
elastic constants of solids, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 49, 768-775
(1971).
[10] R. S. Lakes, Foam structures with a Negative Poisson's ratio,
Science, 235 1038-1040, 1987.
[11] D. Li, T. M. Jaglinski, D. S. Stone, and R. S. Lakes,
Temperature insensitive negative Poisson's ratios in isotropic
alloys near a morphotropic phase boundary, Appl. Phys. Lett,
101, 251903, Dec. (2012).

Poisson's ratio in bending.

Bend a bar or plate. Poisson's ratio governs the curvature in a direction perpendicular to the
direction of bending. This "anticlastic curvature" is easily seen in the bending of a rubber eraser.
Shown here is bending, by a moment applied to opposite edges, of a honeycomb with hexagonal
cells. If the honeycomb cells are regular hexagons, the Poisson's ratio can approach +1. Since the
honeycomb is anisotropic, the Poisson's ratio need not lie within the above range.
Poisson's ratio and anisotropy.
In anisotropic solids including single crystals, honeycombs, and fibrous composites, physical
properties, including Poisson's ratio and elastic moduli, depend on direction. Poisson's ratio can
have positive or negative values of arbitrarily large magnitude in anisotropic materials.
For orthotropic materials, Poisson's ratio is bounded by the ratio of Young's moduli E as follows.
| 12| < (E1 /E2 )1/2
B. M. Lempriere "Poisson's ratio in orthotropic materials" AIAA Journal, 6, No. 11, 2226-2227
(1968)
Maximum and minimum Poisson's ratio values are derived in terms of the elastic compliances of
materials with cubic symmetry.
Hayes, M., and Shuvalov, A., "On the Extreme Values of Young's Modulus, the Shear Modulus,
and Poisson's Ratio for Cubic Materials", ASME J. Appl. Mech., 65, 786-787,(1998).
Poisson's ratio in viscoelastic materials
The Poisson's ratio in a viscoelastic material is time dependent in the context of transient tests
such as creep and stress relaxation. If the deformation is sinusoidal in time, Poisson's ratio may
depend on frequency, and may have an associated phase angle. Specifically, the transverse strain
may be out of phase with the longitudinal strain in a viscoelastic solid. Get pdf of a research
article on this. For polymers in the glassy regime, Poisson's ratio is on the order 1/3. At higher
temperature (or at longer times or lower frequency) sufficient for rubbery behavior, the stiffness
decreases greatly and Poisson's ratio approaches 1/2.
Poisson's ratio and phase transformations
Poisson's ratio can vary substantially in the vicinity of a phase transformation. Typically the bulk
modulus softens near a phase transformation but the shear modulus does not change much. The
Poisson's ratio then decreases in the vicinity of a phase transformation and can attain negative

values. Phase transformations are discussed further on the linked page.

Poisson's ratio, waves and deformation
The Poisson's ratio of a material influences the speed of propagation and reflection of stress
waves. In geological applications, the ratio of compressional to shear wave speed is important in
inferring the nature of the rock deep in the Earth. This wave speed ratio depends on Poisson's
ratio. Poisson's ratio also affects the decay of stress with distance according to Saint Venant's
principle, and the distribution of stress around holes and cracks.
An example. Analysis of effect of Poisson's ratio on compression of a layer.
What about the effect of Poisson's ratio on constrained compression in the 1 (or x) direction?
Constrained compression means that the Poisson effect is restrained from occurring. This could
be done by side walls in an experiment. Also, compression of a thin layer by stiff surfaces is
effectively constrained. Moreover, in ultrasonic testing, the wavelength of the ultrasound is
usually much less than the specimen dimensions. The Poisson effect is restrained from occurring
in this case as well.
In Hooke's law (with the elastic modulus tensor as Cijkl we sum over k and l, but, due to the
constraint, the only strain component which is non-zero is 11.
ij= Cijklkl= C111111+ C112222+ C113333= C111111,
so the effective stiffness for constrained compression is C1111.
Let us find the physical significance of that tensor element in terms of engineering constants.
One may also work with the elementary isotropic form for Hooke's law.
xx= (1/E) {xx- yy-zz}
yy =(1/E) {yy- xx-zz}
zz= (1/E) {zz- xx-yy}
For simple tension or compression in the x direction, the Poisson effect is free to occur. There is
stress in only one direction but there can be strain in three directions. xx 0, that is not equal to
zero, yy = 0, zz= 0. Then
(xx/ xx)= E.
So Young's modulus E is the stiffness for
simple tension, with the Poisson effect free to
occur.
Consider constrained compression, with yy=
0, zz= 0. Then
yy= xx+zz.
zz = xx+yy.
Substituting,
yy= zz= xx((1+ )/(1- 2)).
So,substituting into Hooke's law, the stress-strain ratio for constrained compression, which by
definition is the constrained modulus C1111,is

(xx/xx)= C1111= E ((1 - ) / (1 + )(1 - 2)).

The physical meaning of C1111is the stiffness for tension or compression in the x (or 1) direction,
when strain in the y and z directions is constrained to be zero. The reason is that for such a
constraint the sum in the tensorial equation for Hooke's law collapses into a single term
containing only C1111. The constraint could be applied by a rigid mold, or if the material is
compressed in a thin layer between rigid platens. C1111also governs the propagation of
longitudinal waves in an extended medium, since the waves undergo a similar constraint on
transverse displacement.
Rubbery materials have Poisson's ratios very close to 1/2, shear moduli on the order of a MPa,
and bulk moduli on the order of a GPa. Therefore the constrained modulus C1111is comparable to
the bulk modulus and is much larger than the shear or Young's modulus of rubber.
Practical example - cork in a bottle.
An example of the practical application of a particular value of Poisson's ratio is the cork of a
wine bottle. The cork must be easily inserted and removed, yet it also must withstand the
pressure from within the bottle. Rubber, with a Poisson's ratio of 0.5, could not be used for this
purpose because it would expand when compressed into the neck of the bottle and would jam.
Cork, by contrast, with a Poisson's ratio of nearly zero, is ideal in this application.
Practical example - design of rubber buffers.
How does three-dimensional deformation influence the use of viscoelastic rubber in such
applications as shoe insoles to reduce impact force in running, or wrestling mats to reduce impact
force in falls?
Solution
Refer to the above analysis, in which deformation under transverse constraint is analyzed.
Rubbery materials are much stiffer when compressed in a thin layer geometry than they are in
shear or in simple tension; they are too stiff to perform the function of reducing impact.
Compliant layers can be formed by corrugating the rubber to provide room for lateral expansion
or by using an elastomeric foam, which typically has a Poisson's ratio near 0.3, in contrast to
rubber for which Poisson's ratio can exceed 0.49. Corrugated rubber is used in shoe (sneaker)
insoles and in vibration isolators for machinery. Foam is used in shoes and in wrestling mats.
Practical example - aircraft sandwich panels.
The honeycomb shown above is used in composite sandwich panels for aircraft. The honeycomb
is a core between face-sheets of graphite-epoxy composite. Such panels are usually flat. If curved
panels are desired, the honeycomb cell shape must be changed from the usual regular hexagon
shape, otherwise the cells will be crushed during bending. Several alternative cell shapes are
known, including those which result in a negative Poisson's ratio.

Practical example - Interpreting compression tests on blocks of flexible material.

The material is constrained at contact surfaces by the compression device, so the Poisson effect
cannot freely occur. Bulge occurs in the middle as shown in the image on the right. The
experiment does not provide Young's modulus E. The definition of Young's modulus E entails
freedom from transverse constraint but the block is short enough that constraint by the contact
surfaces is pertinent. Determination of the elastic modulus E involves use of correction formulae
that depend on Poisson's ratio.
A review article with materials science emphasis:
Greaves, G. N., Greer, A. L., Lakes, R. S., and Rouxel, T., "Poisson's Ratio and Modern
Materials", Nature Materials, 10, 823-837 Nov. (2011). In comparing a material's resistance to
distort under mechanical load rather than alter in volume, Poisson's ratio offers the fundamental
metric by which to compare the performance of any material when strained elastically. The
numerical limits are set by 1/2 and -1, between which all stable isotropic materials are found.
With new experiments, computational methods and routes to materials synthesis, we assess what
Poisson's ratio means in the contemporary understanding of the mechanical characteristics of
modern materials. Central to these recent advances, we emphasize the significance of
relationships outside the elastic limit between Poisson's ratio and densification, connectivity,
ductility and the toughness of solids; and their association with the dynamic properties of the
liquids from which they were condensed and into which they melt. get pdf.