Related papers: Cutting and slicing weak solids

Softer means stickier for solid adhesives, because material compliance facilitates close contact between non-conformal surfaces. Recent discoveries have revealed that soft materials can exhibit a rich array of new physics arising from…

We report on rate-dependent fracture energy measurements over three decades of steady crack velocities in alginate and gelatin hydrogels. We evidence that, irrespective of gel thermo-reversibility, thermally activated "unzipping" of the…

We investigate a model for the dynamics of a solid object, which moves over a randomly vibrating solid surface and is subject to a constant external force. The dry friction between the two solids is modeled phenomenologically as being…

We investigate the conditions leading to large drag force fluctuations in granular materials. The study is based on a set of experimental drag tests, which involve pulling a plate vertically through a cohesionless granular material. In…

We report electron microscopy observations of the surface plastic flow in polishing of rough metal surfaces with a controlled spherical asperity structure. We show that asperity--abrasive sliding contacts exhibit viscous behavior, where the…

Using dynamical density functional theory we calculate the speed of solidification fronts advancing into a quenched two-dimensional model fluid of soft-core particles. We find that solidification fronts can advance via two different…

Many soft materials, including foams, dense emulsions, micro gel bead suspensions, star polymers, dense packing of surfactant onion micelles, and textured morphologies of liquid crystals, share the basic "glassy" features of structural…

In our previous paper (Eur. Phys. J. E 4, 121 (2001)) we proposed a coarse-grained elastic energy for nacre, or stratified structure of hard and soft layers. We then analyzed a crack running perpendicular to the layers and suggested one…

Dense emulsions, colloidal gels, microgels, and foams all display a solid-like behavior at rest characterized by a yield stress, above which the material flows like a liquid. Such a fluidization transition often consists of long-lasting…

When adhesive elastomeric materials slide over hard rough surfaces at low velocities, there are two primary dissipative mechanisms that control how friction changes with sliding velocity: viscoelastic dissipation and adhesive dissipation.…

When a finite volume of an etching solution comes in contact with a disordered solid, a complex dynamics of the solid-solution interface develops. Since only the weak parts are corroded, the solid surface hardens progressively. If the…

Attractive colloidal gels display a solid-to-fluid transition as shear stresses above the yield stress are applied. This shear-induced transition is involved in virtually any application of colloidal gels. It is also crucial for controlling…

The nonlinear mechanics of a flexible elastic rod constrained at its edges by a pair of sliding sleeves is analyzed. The planar equilibrium configurations of this variable-length elastica are found to have shape defined only by the…

One problem of non-crystalline condensed matter (soft matter) is creating the right equilibrium between elasticity and viscosity, referred to as viscoelasticity. Manifestations of that can be found in everyday live, where the…

Surgeons normally need surgical scissors and tissue grippers to cut through a deformable surgical tissue. The cutting accuracy depends on the skills to manipulate these two tools. Such skills are part of basic surgical skills training as in…

In this article, we present a mathematical model that answers a classical question concerning how much force, which is generally called static friction force, will it require to initiate the motion of a soft solid block such as gel, rubber…

Precision cutting of soft-tissue remains a challenging problem in robotics, due to the complex and unpredictable mechanical behaviour of tissue under manipulation. Here, we consider the challenge of cutting along the boundary between two…

Crack advance from short or long pre-cracks is predicted by the progressive failure of a cohesive zone in a strain gradient, elasto-plastic solid. The presence of strain gradients leads to the existence of an elastic zone at the tip of a…

Strong particulate gels are widely believed to behave poroelastically in compression, e.g. in sedimentation, even though they consolidate irreversibly because of the stickiness of the particles. Particulate gels are usually adhesive as well…

Granular materials react to shear stresses differently than do ordinary fluids. Rather than deforming uniformly, materials such as dry sand or cohesionless powders develop shear bands: narrow zones containing large relative particle motion…