The Poisson’s ratio is a dimensionless parameter that provides a good deal of insight into the
nature of the material. The major classes of engineered structural materials fall neatly into order
when ranked by Poisson’s ratio:
Material Poisson’s
Class Ratio ν
Ceramics 0.2
Metals 0.3
Plastics 0.4
Rubber 0.5
(The values here are approximate.) It will be noted that the most brittle materials have the lowest
Poisson’s ratio, and that the materials appear to become generally more flexible as the Poisson’s
ratio increases. The ability of a material to contract laterally as it is extended longitudinally is
related directly to its molecular mobility, with rubber being liquid-like and ceramics being very
tightly bonded.
The Poisson’s ratio is also related to the compressibility of the material. The bulk modulus K,
also called the modulus of compressibility, is the ratio of the hydrostatic pressure p needed for a
unit relative decrease in volume ΔV/V :
K =
−p
ΔV/V
(1.13)
where the minus sign indicates that a compressive pressure (traditionally considered positive) produces
a negative volume change. It can be shown that for isotropic materials the bulk modulus is
related to the elastic modulus and the Poisson’s ratio as
K =
E
3(1 − 2ν)
(1.14)
This expression becomes unbounded as ν approaches 0.5, so that rubber is essentially incompressible.
Further, ν cannot be larger than 0.5, since that would mean volume would increase on the
application of positive pressure. A ceramic at the lower end of Poisson’s ratios, by contrast, is
so tightly bonded that it is unable to rearrange itself to “fill the holes” that are created when a
specimen is pulled in tension; it has no choice but to suffer a volume increase. Paradoxically, the
tightly bonded ceramics have lower bulk moduli than the very mobile elastomers.