Composite materials can have properties unlike any found in nature, and in
this case they are known as metamaterials. Materials with negative
Poisson's ratio or negative refractive index are now classic examples. The
effective mass density, which governs the propagation of elastic waves in a
metamaterial can be anisotropic, negative, or even complex. Even the
eigenvectors of the effective mass density tensor can vary with frequency.
We show that metamaterials can exhibit a "Willis type behavior"
which generalizes continuum elastodynamics. Non-linear metamaterials are
also interesting and a basic question is what non-linear behaviors can one
get in periodic materials constructed from rigid bars and pivots? It turns
out that the range is enormous. Materials for which the only easy mode of
macroscopic deformation is an affine deformation, can be classed as
unimode, bimode, trimode,..., hexamode, according to the number of easy
modes of deformation. We give a complete characterization of possible
behaviors of nonlinear unimode materials.
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