Related papers: Stimuli-responsive twist actuators made from soft …

Gels made of telechelic polymers connected by reversible crosslinkers are a versatile design platform for biocompatible viscoelastic materials. Their linear response to a step strain displays a fast, near-exponential relaxation when using…

This paper establishes a one-dimensional theoretical model for an elastic beam with embedded point magnets in extensional, bending and torsional motions. The beam has a circular cross-section. The point magnets may be in the interior or at…

It is demonstrated that the magnetic interactions can be drastically different for nano-sized systems compared to those of bulk or surfaces. Using a real-space formalism we have developed a method to calculate non-collinear magnetization…

Various coils for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are widely available for clinical and research use. These coils are almost all designed as air coils, which require large levels of energy to achieve a given magnetic flux density…

We describe size-varying cylindrical particles made from silicone elastomers that can serve as building blocks for robotic granular materials. The particle size variation, which is achieved by inflation, gives rise to changes in stiffness…

We investigate the spectroscopic magnetic excitations in molecular magnets with complex intermediate structure among the magnetic ions. Our approach consists in introducing a modified spin Hamiltonian that allows for discrete coupling…

We describe the measurement of anisotropic viscoelastic moduli in complex soft materials, such as biopolymer gels, via video particle tracking microrheology of colloid tracer particles. The use of a correlation tensor to find the axes of…

Active matter systems may be characterised by the conversion of energy into active motion, e.g. the self-propulsion of microorganisms. Artificial active colloids form models which exhibit essential properties of more complex biological…

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…

Active gels play an important role in biology and in inspiring biomimetic active materials, due to their ability to change shape, size and create their own morphology; the relevant mechanics behind these changes is driven by…

Conformable robotic systems are attractive for applications in which they can be used to actuate structures with large surface areas, to provide forces through wearable garments, or to realize autonomous robotic systems. We present a new…

Manipulating the way in which colloidal particles self-organise is a central challenge in the design of functional soft materials. Meeting this challenge requires the use of building blocks that interact with one another in a highly…

Predicting the mechanical response of the soft gel materials under external deformation is of paramount importance in many areas, such as foods, pharmaceuticals, solid-liquid separations, cosmetics, aerogels and drug delivery. Most of the…

We analyze the magnetostriction effect occurring in the magneto-sensitive elastomers (MSEs) containing inhomogeneously magnetized particles. As it was shown before, the expression for the interaction potential between two magnetic spheres,…

We study the interaction of small hydrophobic particles on the surface of an ultra-soft elastic gel, in which a small amount of elasticity of the medium balances the weights of the particles. The excess energy of the surface of the deformed…

We present a flexible set-up for determining the rheology of visco-elastic materials which is based on the mechanical response of a magnet deposited at the surface of a slab of material and excited electromagnetically. An interferometric…

Recent experimental results on the static or quasistatic response of granular materials have been interpreted to suggest the inapplicability of the traditional engineering approaches, which are based on elasto-plastic models (which are…

Variable stiffness is a key capability in biological and robotic systems, enabling adaptive interaction across tasks and environments. Mechanical metamaterials offer an alternative to conventional mechatronic solutions by encoding stiffness…

Self-organisation into spatially modulated structures has different nature from phase transition into uniform states. Skyrmions and half-skyrmions (merons) are representatives of such structures and are utilised in designing…

The study of the interactions of living adherent cells with mechanically stable (visco)elastic materials enables understanding and exploiting physiological phenomena mediated by cell-extracellular communication. However, insight on the…