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Nematics with a broken polar symmetry is one of the fascinating recent discoveries in the field of soft matter. High spontaneous polarisation and the fluidity of the ferroelectric nematic $N_{\mathrm{F}}$ phase make such materials…
We model within the framework of finite elasticity two inherent instabilities observed in liquid crystal elastomers under uniaxial tension. First is necking which occurs when a material sample suddenly elongates more in a small region where…
Materials exhibiting a large caloric effect could lead to the development of new generation of heat-management technologies that will have better energy efficiency and be potentially more environmentally friendly. The focus of caloric…
We propose a continuum tensorial model for chiral smectic C (SmC$^*$) liquid crystals using a tensor-valued order parameter $\mathbf{Q}$ to describe orientational order and a real-valued order parameter $\delta\rho$ to capture layer…
We study the sliding friction for viscoelastic solids, e.g., rubber, on hard flat substrate surfaces. We consider first the fluctuating shear stress inside a viscoelastic solid which results from the thermal motion of the atoms or molecules…
The chiral crystal is characterized by a lack of mirror symmetry and an inversion center, resulting in the inequivalent right- and left-handed structures. In the noncentrosymmetric crystal structure, the spin and momentum of electrons are…
The nonlinear elastic properties of nematic liquid crystals have acquired new interest with the recent experimental observation of bulk modulated nematic phases which are composed by achiral molecules. We extend the Oseen-Zocher-Frank's…
Application of isotropic pressure or uniaxial strain alters the elastic properties of materials; sufficiently large strains can drive structural transformations. Linear elasticity describes stability against infinitesimal strains, while…
We propose that ballooning can be controlled, enriched and amplified by using rubbery networks of aligned molecular rods known as liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs). Firstly, LCEs are promising artificial muscles, showing large spontaneous…
A lattice of elastic rods organized in a parallelepiped geometry can be axially loaded up to an arbitrary amount without distortion and then be subject to incremental displacements. Using quasi-static homogenization theory, this lattice can…
We develop an energy-landscape based elasto-plastic model to understand the behaviour of amorphous solids under uniform and cyclic shear. Amorphous solids are modeled as being composed of mesoscopic sub-volumes, each of which may occupy…
We study anomalous elasticity in the tubule phases of nematic and smectic elastomer membranes, which are flat in one direction and crumpled in another. These phases share the same macroscopic symmetry properties including…
Cyclic loading on granular packings and amorphous media exhibits a transition from reversible elastic behavior to irreversible plasticity. The present study compares the irreversibility transition and microscopic details of colloidal…
Liquid crystal elastomers are rubbery solids that couple liquid crystalline order and deformation. This coupling leads to properties that are attractive for a number of applications in soft robotics and energy absorption. This paper is…
Dielectric relaxation of materials provides important information on the polarisation dynamics at different time scales. We study the dielectric relaxation of a nematic liquid crystal under steady rotational shear and simultaneously measure…
Properties of disordered nematic elastomers and gels are theoretically investigated with emphasis on the roles of non-local elastic interactions and crosslinking conditions. Networks originally crosslinked in the isotropic phase lose their…
Tuning the electronic and magnetic properties of a material through strain engineering is an effective strategy to enhance the performance of electronic and spintronic devices. Recently synthesized two-dimensional transition metal carbides…
Constitutive equations are derived for the time-dependent behavior of particle-reinforced elastomers at isothermal loading with finite strains. A rubbery polymer is modelled as a network of macromolecules bridged by junctions which can slip…
A body force concentrated at a point and moving at a high speed can induce shear-wave Mach cones in dusty-plasma crystals or soft materials, as observed experimentally and named the elastic Cherenkov effect (ECE). The ECE in soft materials…
We study the shear jamming of athermal frictionless soft spheres, and find that in the thermodynamic limit, a shear-jammed state exists with different elastic properties from the isotropically-jammed state. For example, shear-jammed states…