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The mechanics of single-chain stretching and rupture are central to understanding the resilience of biological polymers and designing strong and tough soft materials such as double-network gels and multi-network elastomers. In this work, we…
Amorphous silica ($a-SiO_2$) is a widely used inorganic material. Interestingly, the relationship between the local atomic structures of $a-SiO_2$ and their effects on ductility and fracture is seldom explored. Here, we combine large-scale…
An in situ study of deformation, fracture, and fatigue behavior of silicon as a lithium-ion battery electrode material is presented. Thin films (100-200 nm) of silicon are cycled in a half-cell configuration with lithium metal foil as…
A field theory is presented for predicting damage and fracture in quasi brittle materials incorporating effects of irreversible (plastic) deformation as well as elastic moduli that soften with damage. The new observation made here is that…
In this study, a multiphysics model fully coupling mass transport, deformation, phase field, and fatigue damage was developed to investigate the cracking and fracturing behaviours of Si particles during the single lithiation-delithiation…
Single-molecule stretching experiments are widely utilized within the fields of physics and chemistry to characterize the mechanics of individual bonds or molecules, as well as chemical reactions. Analytic relations describing these…
The development and first applications of a new periodic energy decomposition analysis (pEDA) scheme for extended systems based on the Kohn-Sham approach to density functional theory are described. The pEDA decomposes the binding energy…
Three general modes are distinguished in the deformation of a thin shell; these are stretching, drilling, and bending. Of these, the drilling mode is the one more likely to emerge in a soft matter shell (as compared to a hard, structural…
The twisting deformation of mechanically stretched DNA molecules is studied by a coarse grained Hamiltonian model incorporating the fundamental interactions that stabilize the double helix and accounting for the radial and angular base pair…
The relaxation of atomic positions to their optimal structural arrangement is crucial for understanding the emergence of new physical behavior in long scale superstructures in twisted bilayers of two-dimensional materials. The amount of…
Self-sensing conductive composites can reveal deformation and damage through measurable changes in electrical resistance, which makes them attractive for embedded diagnostics and learning-enabled structural health monitoring. This paper…
Our curiosity-driven desire to "see" chemical bonds dates back at least one-hundred years, perhaps to antiquity. Sweeping improvements in the accuracy of measured and predicted electron charge densities, alongside our largely bondcentric…
Inspired by active shape morphing in developing tissues and biomaterials, we investigate two generic mechanochemical models where the deformations of a thin elastic sheet are driven by, and in turn affect, the concentration gradients of a…
The breakage of a polymer chain of segments, coupled by anharmonic bonds with applied constant external tensile force is studied by means of Molecular Dynamics simulation. We show that the mean life time of the chain becomes progressively…
We examine the thermally-induced fracture of an unstrained polymer chain of discrete segments coupled by an anharmonic potential by means of Molecular Dynamics simulation with a Langevin thermostat. Cases of both under- and over-damped…
We introduce a shell-model theory that combines traditional spherical states, which yield a diagonal representation of the usual single-particle interaction, with collective configurations that track deformations, and test the validity of…
Next-generation lithium-ion batteries with silicon anodes have positive characteristics due to higher energy densities compared to state-of-the-art graphite anodes. However, the large volume expansion of silicon anodes can cause high…
Core-shell electrode particles are a promising morphology control strategy for high-performance lithium-ion batteries. However, experimental observations reveal that these structures remain prone to mechanical failure, with shell fractures…
We analyze the nonequilibrium dynamics of single inextensible semiflexible biopolymers as stretching forces are applied at the ends. Based on different (contradicting) heuristic arguments, various scaling laws have been proposed for the…
The structural and dynamic properties of silica melts under high pressure are studied using molecular dynamics (MD) computer simulation. The interactions between the ions are modeled by a pairwise-additive potential, the so-called CHIK…