Related papers: Soft Elasticity in Nematic Liquid-Crystal Networks
Soft intertwined channel systems are frequently found in fluid flow networks in nature. The passage geometry of these systems can deform due to fluid flow, which can cause the relationship between flow rate and pressure drop to deviate from…
I review computational studies of different models of elastic network self-organization leading to the existence of a globally isostatic (rigid but unstressed) or nearly isostatic intermediate phase. A common feature of all models…
We construct a phase field model including hydrodynamics and elasticity in one-component systems. It can be used to investigate solid-liquid and liquid-liquid phase transitions. Upon first-order phase transition, a velocity field is induced…
Using the classical density functional theory of freezing and Monte Carlo computer simulations, we explore the liquid-crystalline phase behavior of hard rectangles on flat and cylindrical manifolds. Moreover, we study the effect of a static…
Uniaxial elastomers are characterized by five elastic constants. If their elastic modulus C_5 describing the energy of shear strains in planes containing the anisotropy axis vanishes, they are said to be soft. In spatial dimensions d less…
Machine learning methods are becoming increasingly important for the development of materials science. In spite of this, the use of image analysis in the development of these systems is still recent and underexplored, especially in…
We study the elasticity of fibrous materials composed of generalized stiff polymers. It is shown that in contrast to cellular foam-like structures affine strain fields are generically unstable. Instead, a subtle interplay between the…
Here, we provide an overview of theoretical approaches to semiflexible polymers and their networks. Such semiflexible polymers have large bending rigidities that can compete with the entropic tendency of a chain to crumple up into a random…
This paper discusses the elastic behavior of polyelectrolyte networks. The deformation behavior of single polyelectrolyte chains is discussed. It is shown that a strong coupling between interactions and chain elasticity exists. The theory…
Several static and dynamic properties of liquid silicon near melting have been determined from an orbital free {\em ab-initio} molecular dynamics simulation. The calculated static structure is in good agreement with the available X-ray and…
We consider nematic liquid crystals in a bounded, convex polyhedron described by a director field n(r) subject to tangent boundary conditions. We derive lower bounds for the one-constant elastic energy in terms of topological invariants.…
Cholesteric Liquid Crystals (CLCs), subject to externally applied magnetic fields and confined between two parallel planar surfaces with strong homeotropic anchoring conditions, are found to undergo transitions to different types of…
Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) composites have long been a focus of study for their unique electro-optical properties which have resulted in various applications such as switchable (transparent/translucent) windows. These…
Wrinkles commonly develop in a thin film deposited on a soft elastomer substrate when the film is subject to compression. Motivated by recent experiments [Agrawal et al., Soft Matter 8, 7138 (2012)] that show how wrinkle morphology can be…
This contribution presents a diffuse framework for modeling cracks in heterogeneous media. Interfaces are depicted by static phase-fields. This concept allows the use of non-conforming meshes. Another phase-field is used to describe the…
Flagellated microswimmers B. Subtilis dispersed in a nematic phase of a lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal form a living liquid crystal (LLC). The combination of the passive and active components allows us to analyze how the active…
We consider the link between fragility and elasticity that follows from analysis of the data for a set of soft-colloid materials consisting of deformable spheres reported by Mattsson et. al., in Nature vol 462, 83 (2009). Fragility index…
Widely known for their uses in displays and electro-optics, liquid crystals are more than just technological marvels. They vividly reveal the topology and structure of various solitonic and singular field configurations, often markedly…
In the classic theory of solid adhesion, surface energy drives deformation to increase contact area while bulk elasticity opposes it. Recently, solid surface stress has been shown also to play an important role in opposing deformation of…
Extra-large deformations in ultra-soft elastic materials are ubiquitous, yet systematic studies and methods to understand the mechanics of such huge strains are lacking. Here we investigate this complex problem systematically with a simple…