Related papers: A ribbon model for nematic polymer networks
We study spontaneous deformations of a ribbon made of nematic polymer networks and activated under the action of a mechanical load. We show that when such ribbons are activated appropriately, the deformations produced can pull back and…
Nematic polymeric networks are (heat and light) activable materials, which combine the features of rubber and nematic liquid crystals. When only the stretching energy of a thin sheet of nematic polymeric network is minimized, the intrinsic…
Nematic polymer networks (NPNs) are nematic elastomers within which the nematic director is enslaved to the elastic deformation. The elastic free energy of a NPN sheet of thickness $h$ has both stretching and bending components (the former…
We study the spontaneous out-of-plane bending of a planar untwisted ribbon composed of nematic polymer networks activated by a change in temperature. Our theory accounts for both stretching and bending energies, which compete to establish…
Dense rubbery networks are highly entangled polymer systems, with significant topological restrictions for the mobility of neighbouring chains and crosslinks preventing the reptation constraint release. In a mean field approach,…
This paper presents a new method for modelling the dynamic behaviour of developable ribbons, two dimensional strips with much smaller width than length. Instead of approximating such surface with a general triangle mesh, we characterize it…
Liquid crystalline networks (LCNs) are stimuli-responsive materials formed from polymeric chains cross-linked with rod-like mesogenic segments, which, in the nematic phase, align along a non-polar director. A key characteristic of these…
Minimizing the elastic free energy of a thin sheet of nematic polymer network among smooth isometric immersions is the strategy purported by the mainstream theory. In this paper, we broaden the class of admissible spontaneous deformations:…
Nematic elastomers and glasses deform spontaneously when subjected to temperature changes. This property can be exploited in the design of heterogeneously patterned thin sheets that deform into a non-trivial shape when heated or cooled. In…
Topology is an important determinant of the behavior of a great number of condensed-matter systems, but until recently has played a minor role in elasticity. We develop a theory for the deformations of a class of twisted non-Euclidean…
Nematic elastomers are programmable soft materials that display large, reversible and predictable deformation under an external stimulus such as a change in temperature or light. While much of the work in the field has focused on actuation…
The elasticity of rubbery polymer networks has been considered to be entropy-driven. On the other hand, studies on single polymer chain mechanics have revealed that the elasticity of ultimately stretched polymer chains is dominated by the…
By means of a variational approach we rigorously deduce three one-dimensional models for elastic ribbons from the theory of von K\'arm\'an plates, passing to the limit as the width of the plate goes to zero. The one-dimensional model found…
We present a theory for the elasticity of cross-linked stiff polymer networks. Stiff polymers, unlike their flexible counterparts, are highly anisotropic elastic objects. Similar to mechanical beams stiff polymers easily deform in bending,…
We study the equilibria of a photoresponsive nematic elastomer ribbon within a continuum theory that builds upon the statistical mechanics model put forward by Corbett and Warner [Phys. Rev. E 78, 061701 (2008)]. We prove that the…
Two-dimensional polyaniline sheet has been recently synthesized and found that it is a semiconductor with indirect band gap. Polyaniline nanoribbons decomposed from two-dimensional polyaniline sheet (C3N sheet) are investigated using…
This study of elastic and plastic deformation of graphene, silicene, and boron nitride (BN) honeycomb nanoribbons under uniaxial tension determines their elastic constants and reveals interesting features. In the course of stretching in the…
Polymer entanglements lead to complicated topological constraints and interactions between neighbouring chains in a dense solution or melt. Entanglements can be treated in a mean field approach, within the famous reptation model, since they…
Using the theory of $\Gamma$-convergence, we derive from three-dimensional elasticity new one-dimensional models for non-Euclidean elastic ribbons, i.e. ribbons exhibiting spontaneous curvature and twist. We apply the models to…
The two approaches to analyzing the large strain behavior of rubbery networks are phenomenologically, using strain energy functions drawn from continuum mechanics, and molecular models, which apply statistical mechanics to compute the…