Related papers: Localized tension-induced giant folding in unstruc…
We propose a simple phenomenological model for describing the conformational dynamics of biopolymers via the nonlinearity-induced buckling and collapse (i.e. coiling up) instabilities. Taking into account the coupling between the internal…
Entangled states are ubiquitous amongst fibrous materials, whether naturally occurring (keratin, collagen, DNA) or synthetic (nanotube assemblies, elastane). A key mechanical characteristic of these systems is their ability to reorganise in…
A buckled sheet offers a reservoir of material that can be unfurled at a later time. For sufficiently thin yet stiff materials, this geometric process has a striking mechanical feature: when the slack runs out, the material locks to further…
Thick-section plates made from a recently developed Al-Cu-Mg-Li alloy have been evaluated to understand the influence of microstructure on the anisotropy of tensile strengths after natural and artificial ageing treatment. Pancake-shaped…
Thin elastic solids are easily deformed into a myriad of three-dimensional shapes, which may contain sharp localized structures as in a crumpled candy wrapper, or have smooth and diffuse features like the undulating edge of a flower.…
In the context of elasticity theory, rigidity theorems allow to derive global properties of a deformation from local ones. This paper presents a new asymptotic version of rigidity, applicable to elastic bodies with sufficiently stiff…
The presence of cuts in a thin planar sheet can dramatically alter its mechanical and geometrical response to loading, as the cuts allow the sheet to deform strongly in the third dimension. We use numerical experiments to characterize the…
Understanding the relationship between micromechanics and macroscopic plastic deformation is vital for elucidating the deformation mechanism of amorphous solids, such as granular materials. In this study, we directly measure T1 events,…
Crumpling an ordinary thin sheet transforms it into a structure with unusual mechanical behaviors, such as enhanced rigidity, emission of crackling noise, slow relaxations, and memory retention. A central challenge in explaining these…
We develop a geometric approach to understand the mechanics of perforated thin elastic sheets, using the method of strain-dependent image elastic charges. This technique recognizes the buckling response of a hole under external load as a…
When tensioned, ordinary materials expand along the direction of the applied force. Here, we explore network concepts to design metamaterials exhibiting negative compressibility transitions, during which a material undergoes contraction…
One long-lasting puzzle in amorphous solids is shear localization, where local plastic deformation involves cooperative particle rearrangements in small regions of a few inter-particle distances, self-organizing into shear bands and…
Subjected to compressive stresses, soft polymers with stiffness gradients can display various buckling patterns. These compressive stresses can have different origins, like mechanical forces, temperature changes, or, for hydrogel materials,…
In Stathas and Stefanou (2022) we presented the frictional response of a bounded fault gouge under largecoseismic slip. We did so by taking into account the evolution of the Principal Slip Zone (PSZ) thickness using a Cosserat micromorphic…
Soft biological tissues exhibit a remarkable resilience to large mechanical loads, a property which is associated with the strain stiffening capability of the biopolymer networks that structurally support the tissues. Yet, recent studies…
We examine the shape change of a thin disk with an inserted wedge of material when it is pushed against a plane, using analytical, numerical and experimental methods. Such sheets occur in packaging, surgery and nanotechnology. We…
Topological states can be used to control the mechanical properties of a material along an edge or around a localized defect. The surface rigidity of elastic networks is characterized by a bulk topological invariant called the polarization;…
When a spatially localized stress is applied to a growing one-dimensional interface, the interface deforms. This deformation is described by the effective surface tension representing the stiffness of the interface. We present that the…
Topology optimization is an important basis for the design of components. Here, the optimal structure is found within a design space subject to boundary conditions. Thereby, the specific material law has a strong impact on the final design.…
Compression experiments are widely used to study the mechanical properties of materials at micro- and nanoscale. However, the conventional engineering stress measurement method used in these experiments neglects to account for the…