Negative Poisson's ratios have been observed in a variety of metals and alloys. However, the electronic origin of this effect remains unclear, as is evident by our limited knowledge about intermetallics showing this behavior. In an effort to clarify the electronic origin of a negative Poisson's ratio, we have performed a systematic and comprehensive study of extreme (both positive and negative) Poisson's ratios behavior in the B2 CsCl-type AB intermetallic family (including 14 common intermetallics and 128 rare-earth-metal transition or main-group-metal intermetallics) by way of density functional theory calculations. We found a pronounced correlation between the extreme Poisson's ratios and the elastic anisotropy, with approximately 70$\%$ of the B2 intermetallics showing intrinsic auxetic behavior. We went on to examine the topology and geometry of the electron charge density and found that the extreme Poisson's ratios are attributable to the directionality of the bonds of the material. Auxetic materials were found to have nondirectional bonds, and nonauxetic compounds had directional bonds. Our findings provide an essential electronic perspective to forecast the auxetic behavior, and suggest a new application for intermetallic compounds.

• Received 4 January 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.85.134108