Related papers: Microstructure-enabled control of wrinkling in nem…
The alignment of fibers and cells in living tissues affect their mechanical properties and functionality. In this context, one can draw an analogy between tissues and nematic liquid crystal elastomers. We explore this analogy by growing…
We present a numerical study of stretching monodomain smectic-A elastomer sheets, computed using the finite element method. When stretched parallel to the layer normal the microscopic layers in smectic elastomers are unstable to a…
Stress-induced shaping, which deforms thin substrates utilizing stressed surface coatings, has enabled and enhanced a host of applications in past decades. Owing to the touchless fabrication process compatible with modern planar technology,…
We study the onset of delamination blisters in a growing elastic sheet adhered to a flat stiff substrate. When the ends of the sheet are kept fixed, its growth arouses residual stresses that lead to delamination. This instability can be…
Morphogenetic dynamics of tissue sheets require coordinated cell shape changes regulated by global patterning of mechanical forces. Inspired by such biological phenomena, we propose a minimal mechanochemical model based on the notion that…
A paradigm for internally driven matter is the active nematic liquid crystal, whereby the equations of a conventional nematic are supplemented by a minimal active stress that violates time reversal symmetry. In practice, active fluids may…
We use the impact of drops on a small solid target as a tool to investigate the behavior of viscoelastic fluids under extreme deformation rates. We study two classes of transient networks: semidilute solutions of supramolecular polymers and…
Motivated by problems arising in tear film dynamics, we present a model for the extensional flow of thin sheets of nematic liquid crystal. The rod-like molecules of these substances impart an elastic contribution to its response. We rescale…
Magnetic gels and elastomers are promising candidates to construct reversibly excitable soft actuators, triggered from outside by magnetic fields. These magnetic fields induce or alter the magnetic interactions between discrete rigid…
We present an experimental investigation of drying suspensions of both hard and soft nanolatex spheres. The crack formation is examined as a function of the proportion of hard and soft deformable particles, leading to tunable elastic…
Stress-stress correlations in crystalline solids with long-range order can be straightforwardly derived using elasticity theory. In contrast, the `emergent elasticity' of amorphous solids, rigid materials characterized by an underlying…
In this work, we extend the analyses devoted to Newtonian viscous fluids previously reported by Ribe [Physical Review E 68, 036305 (2003)], by investigating shear thickening (dilatant) and shear thinning (pseudoplastic) effects on the…
Nematic polymeric networks are (heat and light) activable materials, which combine the features of rubber and nematic liquid crystals. When only the stretching energy of a thin sheet of nematic polymeric network is minimized, the intrinsic…
Bubbles made of smectic liquid crystals (LC) can display buckling and wrinkling. These deformations are induced in the course of the relaxation of an elongated bubble towards a sphere. The bubbles are created through the collapse of a…
This work investigates the morphological stability of a soft body composed of two heavy elastic layers, attached to a rigid surface and subjected only to the bulk gravity force. Using theoretical and computational tools, we characterize the…
The localized loading of an elastic sheet floating on a liquid bath occurs at scales from a frog sitting on a lily pad to a volcano supported by the Earth's tectonic plates. The load is supported by a combination of the stresses within the…
We investigate the finite bending and the associated bending instability of an incompressible dielectric slab subject to a combination of applied voltage and axial compression, using nonlinear electro-elasticity theory and its incremental…
The presence of wrinkles in Graphene Nanoribbons (GNR) and other two-dimensional (2D) materials significantly alter their mechanical, electronic, optical properties, which can be either beneficial or detrimental. Experimentally, it has been…
Persistent wrinkles are often observed on crumpled garments e.g., the wrinkles around the knees after sitting for a while. Such wrinkles can be easily recovered if not deformed for long, and otherwise be persistent. Since they are vital to…
The buckling of thin elastic sheets is a classic mechanical instability that occurs over a wide range of scales. In the extreme limit of atomically thin membranes like graphene, thermal fluctuations can dramatically modify such mechanical…