activity
20092025
most citedSurface sulci in squeezed soft solids

119 citations · 301 across the 11 of their papers we have counts for

collaborators

12 papers

cond-mat.soft2025

Beyond mechanochromism: Programmable multimodal actuation in cholesteric liquid crystal elastomer hollow fibers

Jiazhe Ma, John S. Biggins, Fan Feng +1

Cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers (CLCEs) change color under strain, offering attractive prospects for smart textiles, soft robotics, and photonic devices. However, the helical…

cond-mat.soft2024

Programming evolution of geometry in shape-morphing sheets via spatiotemporal activation

Daniel Duffy, Itay Griniasty, John Biggins +1

Shape-programmed sheets morph from one surface into another upon activation by stimuli such as illumination, and have attracted much interest for their potential engineering applic…

cond-mat.soft2023★ 1 cited

Geometry, mechanics and actuation of intrinsically curved folds

Fan Feng, Klaudia Dradrach, Michał Zmyślony +2

We combine theory and experiments to explore the kinematics and actuation of intrinsically curved folds (ICFs) in otherwise developable shells. Unlike origami folds, ICFs are not b…

cond-mat.soft2023★ 16 cited

Lifting, Loading, and Buckling in Conical Shells

Daniel Duffy, Joselle M. McCracken, Tayler S. Hebner +2

Liquid crystal elastomer films that morph into cones are strikingly capable lifters. Thus motivated, we combine theory, numerics, and experiments to reexamine the load-bearing capa…

cond-mat.soft2023

Surface instability in a nematic elastomer

Morgan Barnes, Fan Feng, John S. Biggins

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are soft phase-changing solids that exhibit large reversible contractions upon heating, Goldstone-like soft modes and resultant microstructural ins…

cond-mat.soft2022

Curvature-driven instabilities in thin active shells

Andrea Giudici, John S. Biggins

Spontaneous material shape changes, such as swelling, growth or thermal expansion, can be used to trigger dramatic elastic instabilities in thin shells. These instabilities origina…

cond-mat.soft2021★ 12 cited

Interfacial metric mechanics: stitching patterns of shape change in active sheets

Fan Feng, Daniel Duffy, Mark Warner +1

A flat sheet programmed with a planar pattern of spontaneous shape change will morph into a curved surface. Such metric mechanics is seen in growing biological sheets, and may be e…

cond-mat.soft2021★ 26 cited

Shape programming lines of concentrated Gaussian curvature

D. Duffy, L. Cmok, J. S. Biggins +7

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) can undergo large reversible contractions along their nematic director upon heating or illumination. A spatially patterned director within a flat L…

cond-mat.soft2014★ 12 cited

Fluid driven fingering instability of a confined elastic meniscus

J. S. Biggins, Z. Wei, L. Mahadevan

When a fluid is pumped into a cavity in a confined elastic layer, at a critical pressure, destabilizing fingers of fluid invade the elastic solid along its meniscus (Saintyves, Dau…

cond-mat.soft2014★ 2 cited

Exactly isochoric deformations of soft solids

J. S. Biggins, Z. Wei, L. Mahadevan

Many materials of contemporary interest, such as gels, biological tissues and elastomers, are easily deformed but essentially incompressible. Traditional linear theory of elasticit…

cond-mat.soft2014★ 119 cited

Surface sulci in squeezed soft solids

Tuomas Tallinen, John S. Biggins, L. Mahadevan

The squeezing of soft solids, the constrained growth of biological tissues, and the swelling of soft elastic solids such as gels can generate large compressive stresses at their su…

cond-mat.soft2009★ 113 cited

Elasticity of Polydomain Liquid Crystal Elastomers

J. S. Biggins, M. Warner, K. Bhattacharya

We model polydomain liquid-crystal elastomers by extending the neo-classical soft and semi-soft free energies used successfully to describe monodomain samples. We show that there i…