Related papers: Computational Study of Mechanochemical Activation …
Reconstituted filamentous actin networks with myosin motor proteins form active gels, in which motor proteins generate forces that drive the network far from equilibrium. This motor activity can also strongly affect the network elasticity;…
The intricate interplay between colloidal particle shape and precisely engineered interaction potentials has paved the way for the discovery of unprecedented crystal structures in both two and three dimensions. Here, we make use of…
Very recently, the construction of twist actuators from magnetorheological gels and elastomers has been suggested. These materials consist of magnetizable colloidal particles embedded in a soft elastic polymeric environment. The twist…
We use computer simulations to study the relaxation dynamics of a model for oil-in-water microemulsion droplets linked with telechelic polymers. This system exhibits both gel and glass phases and we show that the competition between these…
Elastomers that can sustain large reversible strain are essential components for stretchable electronics. The stretchability and mechanical robustness of unfilled elastomers can be enhanced by introducing easier-to-break cross-links, e.g.…
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…
Upon loading, atomic networks can feature delayed viscoplastic relaxation. However, the effect of composition and structure on such a relaxation remains poorly understood. Herein, relying on accelerated molecular dynamics simulations and…
Active materials are capable of converting free energy into directional motion, giving rise to striking dynamical phenomena. Developing a general understanding of their structure in relation to the underlying non-equilibrium physics would…
A simple theory for glassy polymeric mechanical response which accounts for large scale chain relaxation is presented. It captures the crossover from perfect-plastic response to strong strain hardening as the degree of polymerization $N$…
The macroscopic behaviour of active matter arises from nonequilibrium microscopic processes. In soft materials, active stresses typically drive macroscopic shape changes, which in turn alter the geometry constraining the microscopic…
Active networks made of biopolymers and motor proteins are valuable bioinspired systems that have been used in the last decades to study the cytoskeleton and its self-organization under mechanical stimulation. Different techniques are…
Ultra-precision machining of metals, the breaking of nanowires under tensile stress and fracture of nanoscale materials are examples of technologically important processes which are both extremely difficult and costly to investigate…
We consider the swelling kinetics of layered structures. We focus on the case of triblock copolymer mesogels, although our results are applicable to other layered structures including clays. We assume the mesogels are swollen by a solvent…
We report a detailed study of neuromorphic switching behaviour in inherently complex percolating networks of self-assembled metal nanoparticles. We show that variation of the strength and duration of the electric field applied to this…
Predicting the rheological behavior of associative polymers bridging colloidal particles into transient networks is fundamentally challenging because the coupled spatiotemporal scales prevent efficient molecular-fidelity modeling. We…
Statistical mechanics is an important tool for understanding polymer electroelasticity because the elasticity of polymers is primarily due to entropy. However, a common approach for the statistical mechanics of polymer chains, the Gaussian…
Reversible crosslinkers can enable several desirable mechanical properties, such as improved toughness and self-healing, when incorporated in polymer networks for bioengineering and structural applications. In this work, we performed…
Using molecular simulations and theory, we develop an explicit mapping of the contribution of molecular relaxation modes in glassy thermosets to the shear modulus, where the relaxations were tuned by altering the polarity of side groups.…
The mechanical properties of many supramolecular materials are often determined by non-covalent interactions that arise from an interplay between chemical composition and molecular microstructural organization. The reversible nature of…
Dielectric elastomers (DEs) that couple deformation and electrostatics have the potential for use in soft sensors and actuators with applications ranging from robotic, biomedical, energy, aerospace and automotive technologies. However,…