The origin of stiffening in cross-linked semiflexible networks
arXiv:cond-mat/0502397 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.178102
Abstract
Strain stiffening of protein networks is explored by means of a finite strain analysis of a two-dimensional network model of cross-linked semiflexible filaments. The results show that stiffening is caused by non-affine network rearrangements that govern a transition from a bending dominated response at small strains to a stretching dominated response at large strains. Thermally-induced filament undulations only have a minor effect; they merely postpone the transition.
5 pages, 5 figures