Related papers: Non-linear double-peeling: experimental vs. theore…
The recently discovered ferroelectric nematic liquid crystals have been reported to exhibit very large dielectric permittivity values. Here, we report a systematic investigation of the dielectric behavior of a prototypical ferroelectric…
We examine the fracture mechanics of tearing graphene. We present a molecular dynamics simulation of the propagation of cracks in clamped, free-standing graphene as a function of the out-of-plane force. The geometry is motivated by…
The validity of the affine assumption in model flexible polymer networks is explored. To this end, the displacements of fluorescent tracer beads embedded in polyacrylamide gels are quantified by confocal microscopy under shear deformation,…
In the context of finite elasticity, we propose plate models describing the spontaneous bending of nematic elastomer thin films due to variations along the thickness of the nematic order parameters. Reduced energy functionals are deduced…
The adhesion between a polymer melt and substrate is studied in the presence of chemically attached chains on the substrate surface. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out to study the effect of temperature, tethered…
Reversibility is of paramount importance in the correct representation of surface peeling in various physical settings, ranging from motility in nature, to gripping devices in robotic applications, and even to sliding of tectonic plates.…
If one folds a thin viscoelastic sheet under an applied force, a line of plastic deformation is formed which shapes the sheet into an angle. We determine the parameters that define this angle experimentally and show that, no matter how much…
Polymer gels behave as soft viscoelastic solids and exhibit a generic nonlinear mechanical response characterized by pronounced stiffening prior to irreversible failure, most often through macroscopic fractures. Here, we aim at capturing…
The rapid deposition of energy by Edge Localised Modes (ELMs) onto plasma facing components, is a potentially serious issue for large Tokamaks such as ITER and DEMO. The trigger for ELMs is believed to be the ideal Magnetohydrodynamic…
Very thin elastic sheets, even at zero temperature, exhibit nonlinear elastic response by virtue of their dominant bending modes. Their behavior is even richer at finite temperature. Here we use molecular dynamics (MD) to study the…
The most direct measurement of adhesion is the pull-off force, i.e. the tensile force necessary to separate two solids in contact. For a given interface, it depends on various experimental parameters, including separation speed, contact age…
A new formula for elastic bending modulus of monolayer graphene is derived analytically from an empirical potential for solid-state carbon-carbon bonds. Two physical origins are identified for the non-vanishing bending modulus of the…
The two-dimensional multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis is applied to reveal the multifractal properties of the fracture surfaces of foamed polypropylene/polyethylene blends at different temperatures. Nice power-law scaling…
In this work we present the design of a new test geometry inspired by the Tapered Double Cantilever Beam (TDCB) specimen that is shown to provide an improved characterization of the fracture properties of brittle solids. First, we show that…
Double-layers (DLs) were observed in the expanding region of an inductively coupled plasma with $\text{Ar}/\text{SF}\_6$ gas mixtures. No DL was observed in pure argon or $\text{SF}\_6$ fractions below few percent. They exist over a wide…
We revisit the fundamental problem of liquid-liquid dewetting and perform a detailed comparison of theoretical predictions based on thin-film models with experimental measurements obtained by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Specifically, we…
We study the phenomenological implications of breaking the Tri-Bimaximal (TBM) mixing in such a way that either first or second column of TBM mixing matrix remains invariant. We present two such textures and confront them with the…
Understanding the sticking coefficient $\sigma$, i.e., the probability of an adatom sticking to a surface, is essential for controlling the stoichiometry during epitaxial film growth. However, $\sigma$ on monolayer graphene-covered surfaces…
When a flexible plate is peeled off a thin and soft elastic film bonded to a rigid support, uniformly spaced fingering patterns develop along their line of contact. While, the wavelength of these patterns depends only on the thickness of…
To go beyond the simple model for the fold as two flexible surfaces or faces linked by a crease that behaves as an elastic hinge, we carefully shape and anneal a crease within a polymer sheet and study its mechanical response. First, we…