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High-manganese twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steels exhibit high strain hardening, high tensile strength, and high ductility, which make them attractive for structural applications. At low tensile strain rates, TWIP steels are prone to…
Thermally actuated twisted and coiled polymer (TCP) artificial muscles exhibit exceptional specific work capacities but are limited by an inherent competition between load-bearing capacity and actuation stroke. To address this limitation,…
This paper presents an analytical study about the behavior of arbitrary shaped and sized non-cohesive two-dimensional granular materials. Several mechanical properties and relations are unraveled by connecting micro and macro scales in an…
Extensive molecular simulations are applied to characterize the equilibrium dynamics, entanglement topology, and nonlinear extensional rheology of symmetric ring-linear polymer blends with systematically varied ring fraction $\phi_R$.…
Cohesive assemblies of filaments are a common structural motif found in diverse contexts, ranging from biological materials such as fibrous proteins, to artificial materials such as carbon nanotube ropes and micropatterned filament arrays.…
A 3D unit cell model containing eight different spherical particles embedded in a homogeneous strain gradient plasticity (SGP) matrix material is presented. The interaction between particles and matrix is controlled by an interface model…
We report detailed theoretical investigations of the micro-mechanics and bulk elastic properties of composites consisting of randomly distributed stiff fibers embedded in an elastic matrix in two and three dimensions. Recent experiments…
Tissue engineering aims to grow artificial tissues \emph{in vitro} to replace those in the body that have been damaged through age, trauma or disease. A recent approach to engineer artificial cartilage involves seeding cells within a…
The mechanical properties of biological materials are spatially heterogeneous. Typical tissues are made up of a spanning fibrous extracellular matrix in which various inclusions, such as living cells, are embedded. While the influence of…
A novel mathematical model for fiber-reinforced materials is proposed. It is based on a 1-dimensional beam model for the thin fiber structures, a flexible and general 3-dimensional elasticity model for the matrix and an overlapping domain…
Materials that change their shape in response to external stimuli opens up new prospects for efficient and versatile design and shaping of three-dimensional objects. Here, we present a novel class of micro-structures exhibiting an…
Precipitation of fine particles into the base material of a metal is a potent strengthening mechanism. This is numerically analyzed within a continuum framework based on a higher order strain gradient plasticity theory and by use of an…
Numerous ingenious engineering designs and devices have been the product of bio-inspiration. Bone, nacre, and other such stiff structural biological materials (SSBMs) are composites that contain mineral and organic materials interlaid…
Due to their exceptional mechanical and chemical properties and their natural abundance, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are promising building blocks of sustainable polymer composites. However, the rapid gelation of CNC dispersions has…
The weak properties in the thickness of the laminates in terms of rigidity, fatigue and impact resistance involve delamination sensitivity for thick structures. This issue has led to the development of three-dimensional (3D) preforms with…
The study of the interactions of living adherent cells with mechanically stable (visco)elastic materials enables understanding and exploiting physiological phenomena mediated by cell-extracellular communication. However, insight on the…
We present a computational framework to explore the effect of microstructure and constituent properties upon the fracture toughness of fibre-reinforced polymer composites. To capture microscopic matrix cracking and fibre-matrix debonding,…
Optimal characterization of the mechanical properties of both cells and their surrounding is an issue of major interest. Indeed, cell function and development are strongly influenced by external stimuli. Furthermore, a change in cell…
Honeycomb-like microstructures have been shown to exhibit local elastic buckling under compression, with three possible geometric buckling modes, or pattern transformations. The individual pattern transformations, and consequently also…
Throughout biology, hierarchy is a recurrent theme in the geometry of structures where strength is achieved with minimal use of material. Acting over vast timescales, evolution has brought about beautiful solutions to problems of…