Perhaps one of the most studied materials to exhibit negative thermal expansion is zirconium tungstate (). This compound contracts continuously over a temperature range of 0.3 to 1050 K (at higher temperatures the material decomposes). Other materials that exhibit NTE behaviour include other members of the  family of materials (where A =  or , M =  or ) and  and , though  and  only in their high temperature phase starting at 350 to 400 K.  also is an example of controllable negative thermal expansion. Cubic materials like  and also  and  are especially precious for applications in engineering because they exhibit isotropic NTE i.e. the NTE is the same in all three dimensions making it easier to apply them as thermal expansion compensators.
Ordinary ice shows NTE in its hexagonal and cubic phases at very low temperatures (below –200 °C). In its liquid form, pure water also displays negative thermal expansivity below 3.984 °C.
ALLVAR Alloy 30, a titanium-based alloy, shows NTE over a wide temperature range, with a -30 ppm/°C instantaneous coefficient of thermal expansion at 20 °C. ALLVAR Alloy 30's negative thermal expansion is anisotropic. This commercially available material is used in the optics, aerospace, and cryogenics industries in the form of optical spacers that prevent thermal defocus, ultra-stable struts, and washers for thermally-stable bolted joints.
Carbon fibers shows NTE between 20°C and 500°C.  This property is utilized in tight-tolerance aerospace applications to tailor the CTE of carbon fiber reinforced plastic components for specific applications/conditions, by adjusting the ratio of carbon fiber to plastic and by adjusting the orientation of the carbon fibers within the part.
Quartz () and a number of zeolites also show NTE over certain temperature ranges. Fairly pure silicon (Si) has a negative coefficient of thermal expansion for temperatures between about 18 K and 120 K.
Cubic Scandium trifluoride has this property which is explained by the quartic oscillation of the fluoride ions. The energy stored in the bending strain of the fluoride ion is proportional to the fourth power of the displacement angle, unlike most other materials where it is proportional to the square of the displacement. A fluorine atom is bound to two scandium atoms, and as temperature increases the fluorine oscillates more perpendicularly to its bonds. This draws the scandium atoms together throughout the material and it contracts.  exhibits this property from 10 to 1100 K above which it shows the normal positive thermal expansion. Shape memory alloys such as NiTi are a nascent class of materials that exhibit zero and negative thermal expansion.