Related papers: Effective Medium Theory for Mechanical Phase Trans…
Disordered spring networks can exhibit rigidity transitions, due to either the removal of materials in over-constrained networks or the application of strain in under-constrained ones. While an effective medium theory (EMT) exists for the…
Networks of semiflexible or stiff polymers such as most biopolymers are known to deform inhomogeneously when sheared. The effects of such non-affine deformation have been shown to be much stronger than for flexible polymers. To date, our…
Disordered athermal biopolymer materials, such as collagen networks that constitute a major component in extracellular matrices and various connective tissues, are initially soft and compliant but stiffen dramatically under strain. Such…
We develop an effective medium approach to the mechanics of disordered, semiflexible polymer networks and study the response of such networks to uniform and nonuniform strain. We identify distinct elastic regimes in which the contributions…
Recent experiments have demonstrated that the nonlinear elasticity of in vitro networks of the biopolymer actin is dramatically altered in the presence of a flexible cross-linker such as the abundant cytoskeletal protein filamin. The basic…
Disordered fibrous networks are ubiquitous in nature as major structural components of living cells and tissues. The mechanical stability of networks generally depends on the degree of connectivity: only when the average number of…
When subject to applied strain, fiber networks exhibit nonlinear elastic stiffening. Recent theory and experiements have shown that this phenomenon is controlled by an underlying mechanical phase transition that is critical in nature.…
Filamentous bio-materials such as fibrin or collagen networks exhibit an enormous stiffening of their elastic moduli upon large deformations. This pronounced nonlinear behavior stems from a significant separation between the stiffnesses…
Fibrous networks such as collagen are common in physiological systems. One important function of these networks is to provide mechanical stability for cells and tissues. At physiological levels of connectivity, such networks would be…
We formulate an effective medium (mean field) theory of a material consisting of randomly distributed nodes connected by straight slender rods, hinged at the nodes. Defining novel wavelength-dependent effective elastic moduli, we calculate…
The diffusion process through an ideal polymer network is studied by applying the effective medium theory (EMT) to a lattice-gas model. Polymers are modeled by random walks on the lattice bonds, across which molecules can hop with a certain…
As a function of connectivity, spring networks exhibit a critical transition between floppy and rigid phases at an isostatic threshold. For connectivity below this threshold, fiber networks were recently shown theoretically to exhibit a…
We construct and analyze a model for a disordered linear spring network with anisotropy. The modeling is motivated by, for example, granular systems, nematic elastomers, and ultimately cytoskeletal networks exhibiting some underlying…
At zero temperature, spring networks with connectivity below Maxwell's isostatic threshold undergo a mechanical phase transition from a floppy state at small strains to a rigid state for applied shear strain above a critical strain…
Elastic MicroPhase Separation (EMPS) provides a simple route to create soft materials with homogeneous microstructures by leveraging the supersaturation of crosslinked polymer networks with liquids. At low supersaturation, network…
Biopolymer networks are common in biological systems from the cytoskeleton of individual cells to collagen in the extracellular matrix. The mechanics of these systems under applied strain can be explained in some cases by a phase transition…
We present the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) from two perspectives: experimental/technological and theoretical. We review the state of the current understanding of the regulatory networks that underlie EMT in three…
Through mechanical forces, biological cells remodel the surrounding collagen network, generating striking deformation patterns. Tethers-tracts of high densification and fiber alignment-form between cells, thinner bands emanate from cell…
Biological cells embedded in fibrous matrices have been observed to form inter-cellular bands of dense and aligned fibers, through which they mechanically interact over long distances. Such matrix-mediated cellular interactions have been…
Disordered soft materials, such as fibrous networks in biological contexts exhibit a nonlinear elastic response. We study such nonlinear behavior with a minimal model for networks on lattice geometries with simple Hookian elements with…