Related papers: Tensegrity-Inspired Polymer Films: Progressive Ben…
The mechanics of granular media at low liquid saturation levels remain poorly understood. Macroscopic mechanical properties are affected by microscale forces and processes, such as capillary forces, inter-particle friction, liquid flows,…
Understanding the mechanical instabilities of two-dimensional membranes has strong connection to the subjects of structure instabilities, morphology control and materials failures. In this work, we investigate the plastic mechanism…
From pasta to biological tissues to contact lenses, gel and gel-like materials inherently soften as they swell with water. In dry, low-relative-humidity environments, these materials stiffen as they de-swell with water. Here, we use…
We study the necking dynamics of a filament of complex fluid or soft solid in uniaxial tensile stretching at constant imposed Hencky strain rate $\dot\varepsilon$, by means of linear stability analysis and nonlinear (slender filament)…
Hyperelastic materials models are well established to describe the non-linear stress-strain relations of elastomers. In this paper, a polyurethane adhesive is considered as an exemplary material and subjected to tensile, compressive and…
Twist stiffness and an asymmetric bending stiffness of a polymer or a polymer bundle is captured by the elastic ribbon model. We investigate the effects a ring geometry induces to a thermally fluctuating ribbon, finding bend-bend coupling…
Formation of bacterial colonies as biofilm on the surface/interface of various objects has the potential to impact not only human health and disease but also energy and environmental considerations. Biofilms can be regarded as soft…
Thixotropic yields stress fluids are complex materials such as paint, drilling mud, and food products like ketchup or yogurt. They behave as a solid below a certain shear stress (called yield stress), and flows as a liquid above it. The…
This study investigates the coupled deformation and flow behavior of thin, hyper-elastic, porous membranes subjected to pressure loading. Using bulge test experiments, optical deformation measurements, and flow rate characterization, we…
It is shown how the combination of atomic deposition and nonlinear diffusion may lead, below a critical temperature, to the growth of nonuniform layers on a substrate. The dynamics of such a system is of the Cahn-Hilliard type, supplemented…
Stress-strain relations for random packings of entangling chains under triaxial compression can exhibit strain stiffening and sustain stresses several orders-of-magnitude beyond typical granular materials. X-ray tomography reveals the…
We study the behavior of thin elastic sheets that are bent and strained under the influence of weak, smooth confinement. We show that the emerging shapes exhibit the coexistence of two types of domains that differ in their characteristic…
The processing of thin-structured materials in a fluidic environment, from nearly inextensible but flexible graphene sheets to highly extensible polymer films, arises in many applications. So far, little is known about the dynamics of such…
Thin block copolymer films have attracted considerable academic attention because of their ability to self-assemble into various microstructures, many of which have potential technological applications. Despite the ongoing interest, little…
In this paper, we introduce tensor involved peridynamics, a unified framework for simulating both isotropic and anisotropic materials. While traditional peridynamics models effectively simulate isotropic materials, they face challenges with…
This feature article considers the analysis of the initial states of film growth on polymer substrates. The assembled results are based on the cooperation between research groups in the field of plasma physics, chemistry, electric as well…
We study the temporal growth pattern of surface fluctuations on a series of spinodally unstable polymer films where the degree of instability is controlled by the film thickness. For films in the deep spinodal region, the growth rate…
We report molecular dynamics simulation results on the equilibrium properties of polymer thin films adsorbed onto flat and curved substrates. We first systematically determine the contact angle of polymer droplets on flat substrates as a…
In this paper, lightweight metastructures are designed consisting of prismatic tensegrity building blocks which have excellent strength-to-weight ratio and also enable unique compression-torsion coupling. A theoretical model with coupled…
We perform molecular dynamics simulations under uniaxial tension to investigate the micromechanisms underlying strain hardening in glassy polymers. By decomposing the stress into virial components associated with pair, bond, and angle…