Blog posts
Programmable wrinkling patterns of liquid crystal network bilayers on compliant substrates
Smart soft materials have gained increasing attention in recent years because of their adaptive behaviors to external multi-physics stimuli, enabling diverse applications across multiple fields. Here, we show programmable wrinkling morphological patterns on liquid crystal network (LCN) bilayers bonded to compliant substrates under thermal load, by tuning the orientation of directors between LCN bilayers. We propose a solid-shell formulation that merges enhanced and natural assumed strain approaches to investigate the pattern formation and morphological transition of LCN bilayers.
Unusual stretching-twisting of liquid crystal elastomer bilayers
Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs), as a unique class of smart soft materials combining the properties of liquid crystals and hyperelasticity, are capable of rapid, anisotropic, and reversible deformations in response to mechanical, thermal or optical stimuli. Here, we report a hitherto unknown stretching-induced twisting behavior of LCE bilayer strips. Under uniaxial stretching, we reveal that due to the spontaneous mismatch strain arising from interlayer anisotropy, the bilayer strips exhibit notable twisting deformations.
International Master Program MS2 [15 scholarships available!! Deadline March 15, 2025]
The International Master Program MS2 - Mechanics of Sustainable Materials and Structures, offered through joint training activities at TU Dortmund University (Germany), at the University of Trento (Italy) and at the Ecole Centrale de Nantes (France),
has been awarded an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master funding!
USACM-Webinar. TTA-UQ and Prob. Modeling. Title: Uncertainty Quantification and Generative Modeling Using Multi-fidelity Strategies, Speaker: Alireza Doostan
Monthly Webinar. TTA-Uncertainty Quantification and Probabilistic Modeling.
February 13; 3 pm - 4pm EST
Speaker: Alireza Doostan, University of Colorado, Boulder
Title: Uncertainty Quantification and Generative Modeling Using Multi-fidelity Strategies
PhD openings in Computational Solid Mechanics and Methods at University of Kentucky
The Computational Mechanics and Methods (CM3) Group in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Kentucky is seeking highly self-motivated individuals who have great interest in the broad research areas of computational solid mechanics and methods, beginning Fall 2025. Interested individuals should send a detailed CV and official transcripts to Dr.
IUTAM Symposium on Chemo-Mechanics. Oxford, June 29-July 2 (2025)
Dear iMechanicians,
Let me bring to your attention the IUTAM Symposium on Chemo-Mechanics that we are organising this summer in Oxford. We have an excellent cohort of speakers covering a wide range of chemo-mechanics topics (hydrogen embrittlement, battery degradation, corrosion/oxidation, hydrogels, etc.). In addition to invited talks, there will be opportunities to contribute with posters. You can find all the information here: https://chemomechanics.web.ox.ac.uk/