01712nas a2200229 4500008004100000022001400041245010200055210006900157300001200226490000800238520097600246653001601222653002001238653001601258653002201274100001601296700002701312700002701339700002201366700002201388856007201410 2018 eng d a0020-740300aSpontaneous morphing of equibiaxially pre-stretched elastic bilayers: The role of sample geometry0 aSpontaneous morphing of equibiaxially prestretched elastic bilay a481-4860 v1493 a
An elastic bilayer, consisting of an equibiaxially pre-stretched sheet bonded to a stress-free one, spontaneously morphs into curved shapes in the absence of external loads or constraints. Using experiments and numerical simulations, we explore the role of geometry for square and rectangular samples in determining the equilibrium shape of the system, for a fixed pre-stretch. We classify the observed shapes over a wide range of aspect ratios according to their curvatures and compare measured and computed values, which show good agreement. In particular, as the bilayer becomes thinner, a bifurcation of the principal curvatures occurs, which separates two scaling regimes for the energy of the system. We characterize the transition between these two regimes and show the peculiar features that distinguish square from rectangular samples. The results for our model bilayer system may help explaining morphing in more complex systems made of active materials.
10aBifurcation10aElastic bilayer10aPre-stretch10aShape programming1 aCaruso, Noe1 aCvetković, Aleksandar1 aLucantonio, Alessandro1 aNoselli, Giovanni1 aDeSimone, Antonio uhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002074031731176101169nas a2200133 4500008004100000245007700041210006900118260003400187520069100221100002700912700002300939700002200962856005100984 2014 en d00aSwelling dynamics of a thin elastomeric sheet under uniaxial pre-stretch0 aSwelling dynamics of a thin elastomeric sheet under uniaxial pre bAmerican Institute of Physics3 aIt has been demonstrated experimentally that pre-stretch affects the swelling of an elastomeric membrane when it is exposed to a solvent. We study theoretically the one-dimensional swelling of a pre-stretched thin elastomeric sheet, bonded to an impermeable rigid substrate, to quantify the influence of pre-stretch. We show that the solvent uptake increases when pre-stretch increases, both at equilibrium and during the swelling transient, where it exhibits two different scaling regimes. The coupling between the solvent uptake and pre-stretch may be practically exploited to design soft actuators where the swelling-induced deformations can be controlled by varying the pre-stretch.1 aLucantonio, Alessandro1 aNardinocchi, Paola1 aStone, Howard, A. uhttp://urania.sissa.it/xmlui/handle/1963/3511301394nas a2200133 4500008004100000245006500041210006400106260002800170520094000198100002701138700002301165700002101188856005101209 2014 en d00aSwelling-induced and controlled curving in layered gel beams0 aSwellinginduced and controlled curving in layered gel beams bRoyal Society of London3 aWe describe swelling-driven curving in originally straight and non-homogeneous beams. We present and verify a structural model of swollen beams, based on a new point of view adopted to describe swelling-induced deformation processes in bilayered gel beams, that is based on the split of the swelling-induced deformation of the beam at equilibrium into two components, both depending on the elastic properties of the gel. The method allows us to: (i) determine beam stretching and curving, once assigned the characteristics of the solvent bath and of the non-homogeneous beam, and (ii) estimate the characteristics of non-homogeneous flat gel beams in such a way as to obtain, under free-swelling conditions, three-dimensional shapes. The study was pursued by means of analytical, semi-analytical and numerical tools; excellent agreement of the outcomes of the different techniques was found, thus confirming the strength of the method.1 aLucantonio, Alessandro1 aNardinocchi, Paola1 aPezzulla, Matteo uhttp://urania.sissa.it/xmlui/handle/1963/34987