Auxetic structures, materials that exhibit a negative Poisson's ratio (NPR), have garnered increasing attention for their unusual deformation mechanisms and potential applications in biomedical devices, protective coatings, and flexible electronics. Graphene oxide (GO) monolayers naturally display auxetic behavior at the atomic scale, but they can also be engineered into larger-scale auxetic architectures through wrinkle formation during the drying process. This study investigates how wrinkle orientation - both relative to the loading axis and between neighboring wrinkles, as well as wrinkle spacing, influence the effective Poisson's ratio of wrinkled GO sheets. Finite element simulations were performed in SolidWorks under axial tensile loading, with wrinkle parameters systematically varied across multiple models. The simulation results are compared with experimental tensile data to establish design correlations that connect wrinkle geometry to auxetic performance. These correlations provide a framework for tailoring auxetic response in graphene oxide sheets, enabling more deliberate integration of GO into next-generation functional materials.
Acknowledgements: This research was made possible through the support of the Union College Mechanical Engineering department and funding from the Union College Student Research Grant. Special thanks also go to Professor Yijing Stehle for advising this project and to Dr Jaron Kuppers for helping define appropriate simulation boundary conditions and methods.