6 papers · 1 filter
Unravelling the multiscale surface mechanics of soft solids
Nicolas Bain, Lawrence A. Wilen, Dominic Gerber +7
Soft solids and their surface deformations control the response of many natural and artificial systems. Yet, their underlying properties are vigorously debated, particularly for po…
Disordered origins, deterministic outcomes: How the architecture of elastic networks imprints relaxed structure and mechanics
Stefanie Heyden, Mohit Pundir, Eric R. Dufresne +1
This work targets the influence of disorder on the relaxed structure and macroscopic mechanical properties of elastic networks. We construct network classes of different types of d…
Controlling polymerization-induced phase separation in the synthesis of porous gels
Yanxia Feng, Noel Ringeisen, Eric R. Dufresne +2
Porous gels -- gels with solvent-filled pores that are much larger than their mesh size -- are widely used in engineering and biomedical applications due to their tunable mechanics…
Thermodynamics of microphase separation in a swollen, strain-stiffening polymer network
Carla Fernández-Rico, Robert W. Style, Stefanie Heyden +3
Elastic MicroPhase Separation (EMPS) provides a simple route to create soft materials with homogeneous microstructures by leveraging the supersaturation of crosslinked polymer netw…
Droplets sliding on soft solids shed elastocapillary rails
Nan Xue, Lawrence A. Wilen, Robert W. Style +1
The surface tension of partially wetting droplets deforms soft substrates. These deformations are usually localized to a narrow region near the contact line, forming a so-called `e…
Characterizing hydrogel behavior under compression with gel-freezing osmometry
Yanxia Feng, Dominic Gerber, Stefanie Heyden +4
Hydrogels are particularly versatile materials that are widely found in both Nature and industry. One key reason for this versatility is their high water content, which lets them d…