Related papers: Theoretical stiffness limits of 4D printed self-fo…
This paper reviews recent literature results on the mechanics of structures formed by layers of pentamode lattices alternating with stiffening plates, which can be effectively employed for the development of seismic isolation devices and…
The technique presented here identifies tethered mould designs, optimised for growing cultured tissue with very highly-aligned cells. It is based on a microscopic biophysical model for polarised cellular hydrogels. There is an unmet need…
Adhesion requires molecular contact, and natural adhesives employ mechanical gradients to achieve complete (conformal) contact to maximize adhesion. Intuitively, one expects that the higher the modulus of the top layer, the lower will be…
Specific strength (strength/density) is a crucial factor while designing high load bearing architecture in areas of aerospace and defence. Strength of the material can be enhanced by blending with high strength component or, by compositing…
We present Monte Carlo simulations of an ultra coarse-grained lipid bilayer with different number of lipids on both leaflets. In the simulations, we employ a new method for measuring the elastic parameters of the membrane, including the…
Metamaterials, i.e., artificially structured ("synthetic") media comprising weakly coupled discrete elements, exhibit extraordinary properties and they hold a great promise for novel applications including super-resolution imaging,…
The trade-off between strength and ductility has plagued the design of macroscopic assemblies of two-dimensional materials for a long time. In order to break the strength-ductility paradox, the design of self-folded two-dimensional…
Elastic wave manipulation is important in a wide variety of scales in applications including information processing in tiny elastic devices and noise control in big solid structures. The recent emergence of topological materials opens a new…
In this paper, we present a 2D numerical model developed to simulate the dynamics of soft, deformable particles. To accommodate significant particle deformations, the particle surface is represented as a narrow shell composed of mass points…
We present a novel continuous optimization method to the discrete problem of quadtree optimization. The optimization aims at achieving a quadtree structure with the highest mechanical stiffness, where the edges in the quadtree are…
We present an approach to overcoming challenges in dynamical dexterity for robots through tunable origami structures. Our work leverages a one-parameter family of flat sheet crease patterns that folds into origami bellows, whose axial…
Solutions of semiflexible polymers confined by repulsive planar walls are studied by density functional theory and Molecular Dynamics simulations, to clarify the competition between the chain alignment favored by the wall and the depletion…
The stiffness modulation mechanism for soft robotics has gained considerable attention to improve deformability, controllability, and stability. However, for the existing stiffness soft actuator, high lateral stiffness and a wide range of…
We present a sampling-based approach to reasoning about the caging-based manipulation of rigid and a simplified class of deformable 3D objects subject to energy constraints. Towards this end, we propose the notion of soft fixtures extending…
Correlated insulators and superconductivity have been observed in "magic-angle" twisted bilayer graphene, when the nearly flat bands close to neutrality are partially filled. While a momentum-space continuum model accurately describes these…
Reconfigurable metamaterials require constituent nanostructures to demonstrate switching of shapes with external stimuli. For generality, such nanostructures would touch and stick to other surfaces in one of its configurations. Yet, a…
We develop a continuum dislocation description of twist and stretch moire superlattices in 2D material bilayers. The continuum formulation is based on the topological constraints introduced by the periodic dislocation network associated…
Understanding how cells escape from embedded spheroids requires a mechanical framework linking stress generation within cells, across cells, and between cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). We develop such a framework by…
3D print is a recently developed technique, for single-unit production, and for structures that have been impossible to build previously. The current work presents a method to 3D print polymer bonded isotropic hard magnets with a low-cost,…
Mechanical metamaterials capable of large deformations are an emerging platform for functional devices and structures across scales. Bistable designs are particularly attractive since they endow a single object with two configurations that…