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Conventional drop-weight techniques were modified to accommodate low-amplitude force transducer signals from low-strength, cold isostatically pressed 'heavy' composites of polytetrafluoroethylene, aluminum and tungsten. The failure…
A formula is derived for stiffness of a polymer chain in terms of the distribution function of end-to-end vectors. This relationship is applied to calculate the stiffness of Gaussian chains (neutral and carrying electric charges at the…
A bonded particle model is used to explore how variations in the material properties of brittle, isotropic solids affect critical behavior in fragmentation. To control material properties, a new model is proposed which includes breakable…
Transmission of forces in static granular materials are studied within the framework of the force network ensemble, by numerically evaluating the mechanical response of hexagonal packings of frictionless grains and rectangular packings of…
The hyperstatic nature of granular packings of perfectly rigid disks is analyzed algebraically and through numerical simulation. The elementary loops of grains emerge as a fundamental element in addressing hyperstaticity. Loops consisting…
Entangled networks of stiff biopolymers exhibit complex dynamic response, emerging from the topological constraints that neighboring filaments impose upon each other. We propose a class of reference models for entanglement dynamics of stiff…
The packing problem of long thin filaments that are injected into confined spaces is of fundamental interest for physicists and biologists alike. How linear threads pack and coil is well known only for the ideal case of rigid containers,…
We use nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to verify recent tube-model predictions that associative polymer networks exhibit broad stretch fluctuations during elongational flow. Simulations further show that these fluctuating…
Active polymers possess numerous unique properties that are quite different from those observed in the system of small active molecule due to the intricate interplay between their activity and topological constraints. This study focuses on…
The non-equilibrium structural and dynamical properties of a flexible polymer tethered to a reflecting wall and subject to oscillatory linear flow are studied by numerical simulations. Polymer is confined in two dimensions and is modeled as…
An applied tension force changes the equilibrium conformations of a polymer chain tethered to a planar substrate and thus affects the adsorption transition as well as the coil-globule and crystallization transitions. Conversely, solvent…
The mechanical response of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) and polyampholyte (PA) chains is vital for understanding their biological functions and designing functional materials. We investigate the force-extension behavior of a PA…
Pinning phenomena in an incommensurate two-chain model of friction are studied numerically. The pinning effect due to the breaking of analyticity exists in the present model. The pinning behavior is, however, quite different from that for…
Granular creep is the slow, sub-yield movement of constituents in a granular packing due to the disordered nature of its grain-scale interactions. Despite the ubiquity of creep in disordered materials, it is still not understood how to best…
We propose a simple friction model for isolated polymer chains on a solid substrate. The chains are pulled at constant velocity by one end, the other end can be trapped on the solid substrate on localised sites. We focus on the energy…
When elastic solids are sheared, a nonlinear effect named after Poynting gives rise to normal stresses or changes in volume. We provide a novel relation between the Poynting effect and the microscopic Gr\"uneisen parameter, which quantifies…
Granular materials demonstrate a strongly nonlinear behavior influencing the wave propagation in the medium. We report the first experimental observation of impulse energy confinement and the resultant disintegration of shock and solitary…
Entangled matter displays unusual and attractive properties and mechanisms: tensile strength, capabilities for assembly and disassembly, damage tolerance. While some of the attributes and mechanisms share some traits with traditional…
We analyse the nature of the confinement of an infinitely long (and finite) linear semiflexible homo-polymer chain confined in between two geometrical constraints (A&B) under good solvent condition in two dimensions. The constraints are…
Twisted and rope-like assemblies of filamentous molecules are common and vital structural elements in cells and tissue of living organisms. We study the intrinsic frustration occurring in these materials between the two-dimensional…