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For a comprehensive characterization of mechanical reliability of metallization layers on polymer substrates both electrical and mechanical degradation should be taken into account. Although it is evident that cracking of a conductive film…

-- A scientific hurdle in manufacturing solid films by drying colloidal layers is preventing them from fracturing. This paper examines how the drying rate of colloidal liquids influences the particle packing at the nanoscale in correlation…

The presence of universality of avalanches characterizing the inelastic response of disordered materials has the potential to bridge the gap from micro- to macroscale. In this study, we explore the statistics and the scaling behavior of…

Crack fronts deform due to heterogeneities, and inspecting these deformations can reveal local variations of material properties, and help predict out of plane damage. Current models neglect the influence of a finite dissipation…

We propose a model for the formation of drying cracks in a viscoplastic material. In this model, we observe that when an external force is applied to a viscoplastic material before drying, the material memorizes the effect of the force as a…

Physical understanding of the crack origin and quantitative physical prediction of the crack volume variation far from the clay soil surface are necessary to protect the underlying aquifers from pollutants. The basis of this work is an…

Drying of bacterial suspensions is frequently encountered in a plethora of natural and engineering processes. However, the evaporation-driven mechanical instabilities of dense consolidating bacterial suspensions have not been explored…

We have studied shrinkage crack patterns which form when a thin layer of an alumina/water slurry dries. Both isotropic and directional drying were studied. The dynamics of the pattern formation process and the geometric properties of the…

The classical problem of foam film rupture dynamics has been investigated when surfaces exhibit very high rigidity due to the presence of specific surfactants. Two new features are reported. First a strong deviation to the well-known…

We investigate the initiation of cracks in vertically freestanding water-saturated colloidal pillars constructed using a direct-write technique. Paradoxically, the cracks form during drying at the free end, far from the substrate, where the…

The invasion of air into porous systems in drying processes is often localized in soft materials, such as colloidal suspensions and granular pastes, and it typically develops in the form of cracks before ordinary drying begins. To…

We investigate the origins of the widely-observed "en passant" crack pattern which forms through interactions between two approaching cracks. A rectangular elastic plate is notched on each long side and then subjected to quasistatic…

We study the appearance and evolution of an array of parallel cracks in a thin slab of material that is directionally dried, and show that the cracks penetrate the material uniformly if the drying front is sufficiently sharp. We also show…

Differential shrinkage in particulate quasi-brittle materials causes microcracking which reduces durability in these materials by increasing their mass transport properties. A hydro-mechanical three-dimensional periodic network approach was…

Compressed frictional granular matter cannot flow without dilation. Upon forced shearing to generate flow, the amount of dilation may depend on the initial preparation and a host of material variables. On the basis of both experiments and…

Many clays, soils, biological tissues, foods, and coatings are shrinkable, granular materials: they are composed of packed, hydrated grains that shrink when dried. In many cases, these packings crack during drying, critically hindering…

Size-dependence of plastic flow is studied by discrete dislocation dynamical simulation of systems with various numbers of interacting linear edge dislocations while the stress is slowly increased. Regions between avalanches in the…

Drying complex fluids is a common phenomenon where a liquid phase transforms into a dense or porous solid. This transformation involves several physical processes, such as the diffusion of liquid molecules into the surrounding atmosphere…

Cohesive granular materials, like wet sand, retain their shape before yielding under stress. This solid-like behavior is associated with elasticity. As the loading increases, the material typically flows. However, cohesive materials can…

Nearly all dense suspensions undergo dramatic and abrupt thickening transitions in their flow behaviour when sheared at high stresses. Such transitions occur when the dominant interactions between the suspended particles shift from…